The Most Important Things
by CdnJAGScribe
Summary: During the holiday season, it is too easy to let the stress of every day life creep into the family. Add in the stress of holiday planning into that mix and it makes for a volatile cocktail of emotions.
1. Chapter 1

"The Most Important Things"

Author: CdnJAGScribe

E-mail:

Rating: M

Classification: Animal/Meg; Harm/Mac

Spoilers:

Summary: During the holiday season, it is too easy to let the stress of every day life creep into the family. Add in the stress of holiday planning into that mix and it makes for a volatile cocktail of emotions.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of the author. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

 _Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas._ _"_ _~ Peg Bracken_

* * *

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD. December 22, 2017 1750 hrs**_

"Dad's at another meeting at the Pentagon. He may be late coming home. I'll probably have to drive you to your game tonight." Meg Austin-Nakamura, RADM, JAGC, said as she got Katie ready for her hockey practice. At 12 years old, Katie was an aspiring second year Peewee hockey player playing for the Navy Youth Hockey Association Navy Rams Rep A1 squad in Annapolis, Maryland. A C adorned her jersey as she was the Captain of the team. The look of disappointment on Katie's face caused a hint of anger to run through Meg's mind directed at her constantly busy husband; it seemed that only Meg was getting out to her daughter's ice hockey games as of late. As a full four-star admiral on his last duty assignment before retirement, after a long and distinguished career and a term as the Navy's top four-star admiral (Chief of Naval Operations), it was highly unusual that her husband was stationed to the Pentagon as a staff officer to another four-star (a junior four-star at that); a job which kept him extremely busy. If that wasn't enough, he conducted visits to the various squadrons and ships within the fleet command. Which left barely enough time to eat dinner with his family let alone attending his daughter's hockey games. He tried but honestly it was starting to vex Meg.

"But he never seems to be able to make it to any of my games. Does he even care that we're facing the Kettler team tonight and Baltimore beat us 6-3 last game." Katie had tears in her eyes and Meg knew that despite the fact that Katie knew what her dad had to do in protecting the national security of the nation, there were times that she just wanted her dad with her.

"I'm sure Dad will try to make it to see your game. Come on Katie, we need to make it to the rink in Ballston Common." Meg tried to reassure her daughter wondering yet again if she would end up lying to protect Katie's feelings from being hurt. There had been too many disappointments since her husband had become DCOMSECONDFLEET in terms of his failing to fulfill the hopes of their daughter that he would at least try to make it out to see her games. Picking up Katie's heavy hockey bag filled with her gear, Meg hauled the bag out to the car, feeling the flakes of snow brushing by her cheeks.

 _ **The Pentagon, Washington DC 1755 hrs**_

ADM (four stars) Toshio _Animal_ Nakamura looked at his watch noting the time. A vibrating buzz notified him of an email message and he pulled his iPhone 6s from his pocket. Chocking his text app he saw: _Katie's game is at 1955hrs. Try to make it this time, will you. Game is at Ballston Common Mall Arena. Katie's distraught. 3 Meg_. Sighing he looked up again at the clock. _Damn_. He thought to himself _Bennett is going to keep me overtime if I let him._ ADM (four stars) Charles Edwin Bennett was a ball-buster when it came to his command and Animal was starting to feel the beginnings of stress and dissatisfaction with his post. Whenever there was an inspection to be done at one of the various commands under the umbrella of Bennett's fleet flag, guess who got picked to do the job no matter if there were others just as suitable for the job. Bennett was a report and form commander and every dotted i and crossed t had to be accounted for. Animal looked down at his rack on his service blues and dourly regarded that ribbon that adorned the top of his rack. He glared at it for a long moment and then picked up the phone. As DCOMSECONDFLEET he was positioned to think about retirement in a few years. As long as that martinet in the Commanding officer's chair didn't piss him off to the point of retiring early.

"Admiral Bennett's office US 2nd Fleet, how may I help you." Evidently the YNCM was still at her post diligently working.

"Master Chief. This is ADM Nakamura, I wonder if ADM Bennett has a few moments in which I could speak to him."

"Sir, I'll see if his itinerary is clear and I may be able to get you a few moments."

"Thank you, Master Chief" Animal replied perfunctorily and hung up the phone opting to make his presence known to the Master Chief Yeoman in person. Perhaps that damned ribbon could be of some use.

About five minutes later he walked into COMSECONDFLT's office, the YNMC snapping to attention as her eyesight fell upon the blue ribbon with five stars adorning the topmost position on his rack. "Sir, I was able to get you five minutes. ADM Bennett is extremely busy..."

Animal cut her off. "That's fine. Master Chief. Five minutes is all I will need." Since Bennett took command he had dealt with his underlings by phone telling them what they needed to do to please his high exaltedness. As far as back as Animal could recollect; where the COMSECONDFLT was concerned, Bennett had never seen a single person out of his command in person. Walking towards Bennett's door, he pounded the pine and stood there for a moment before he heard...

"Enter."

Animal summoned up his initiative and opened the door. ADM Bennett was short, barrel of a man. Measuring only 5'6", he looked up at Animal standing in front of his desk at the position of attention. Animal ignored the insult to the Medal. Even the CNO stood to greet him but evidently this admiral felt he didn't have to. "Admiral Toshio Nakamura requesting to secure." Animal stated succinctly.

The little barrel of a man had a high-pitched voice as well which could only be assumed the reason why Animal was the front man for this admiral in front of the US Second Fleet. "The report is finished, collated with sixteen copies? I have a meeting with the Joint Chiefs." Hang the man. That meeting with the JCS was not until Tuesday.

"The report is done, however I've noted the meeting is on Tuesday afternoon so barring any problems I can get the copies to you on Monday morning, sir. I have missed several of my daughter's events as a result of the report, with all due respect, sir, I would like to get to at least one of her events this year." As equal rank, Animal only used the sir out of respect for Bennett's position as COMSECONDFLT. As a former CNO, Animal had more time in rank than Bennett and was senior in four-star position to Bennett.

A slight flush of the jowls and cheeks noted that Admiral Bennett considered what Animal had said an insult. But before he could say anything, the door was flung open and the current Chief of Naval Operations walked in; stalked in was a more apt description. "Charlie!" She growled "you and I need to have a talk!" Bennett looked at Animal dismissively but the CNO said "you stay put, Admiral." Admiral Joanna Pruette glared at Admiral Charlie Bennett. "I've looked at all your reports. Charlie. From the Navy boarding manifests on the various ships and aircraft that you've been purporting to use to get to certain events you were expected to show your face for, the only four-star who has consistently been at these events is Admiral Nakamura." The fear on Admiral Bennett's face was palpable as he realized that the CNO knew. "You've been hiding behind Admiral Nakamura's Medal of Honor, haven't you?" His silence told Admiral Pruette all she needed to know. "You're nothing but a cardboard commander and ADM Nakamura has been doing all your work for you. And you had the guts to tell me in our meeting, Charlie, that in your _personal opinion_ you found that the units under your command were fully operational. That actually wasn't true, was it? It was Admiral Nakamura who certified those units operational and inspected the readiness of said units, wrote the reports and made the recommendations and you just signed your name to it, didn't you? In essence you hid while Admiral Nakamura was the face of US Second Fleet to the men and women who serve this country. That is a gross disservice when the Commander US Second Fleet cannot even make a token effort to appear for Fleet functions and perpetually delegates his authority to his XO." Admiral Bennett turned sheet white, quivering with fear and rage as CNO Pruette snapped, "Admiral Charles Edwin Bennett, you are hereby relieved of duty as Commander US Second Fleet pending a Judge Advocate General investigation. Be aware that charges may be pending. A report will be going to Vice-Admiral Rabb, Judge Advocate General to investigate the matter." Turning to Animal she said. "Meet with me privately in my office on Monday, Tosh, and enjoy the holidays. But tonight, secure and go see your little girl play ice hockey, I hear they're playing Kettler and the Capitals been pretty good this season; my daughter's got a boy in Squirt".". She said in a more amiable tone. Animal thanked her and beat feet all the while feeling the rage coming off Admiral Bennett.

 _ **Kettler, Ballston Common Mall Arena, Arlington, VA 1855 hrs**_

Meg turned her 2016 Chevy Trax into the parking lot at 627 North Glebe Rd searching for a parking space. The snow was coming down hard and she had taken her time driving. It was a long drive and the roads were treacherous but the drive had given her some time to collect her thoughts. Finding a parking space open she plugged her Trax into it. Turning off the ignition, she popped the hatch and put her hat on to protect her hair from the falling snow. Her thoughts turned towards her husband as she wrestled her daughter's hockey bag from the car. _Where is he; he never even responded to the text I sent him_ and a fresh flash of anger went through her as she and her daughter headed into the arena. Restraining herself admirably from sending an irate text message she resolved that she would have an honest to goodness talk about his absences hurting his daughter and in turn hurting Meg as well.

During the hour warmup and dressing up she didn't see her husband anywhere. Even at the concession stand which was his usual favorite place to be. And her ire rose in direct proportion.

She went to sit in the stands as the clock started to indicate 1940hrs or 7:40 PM. Peewee games were usually only an hour long but she wasn't sure what the Kettler Capitals would be doing. There was a decent sized crowd of Kettler and Annapolis parents waiting to see their kids play. She looked up as the announcer stated before the game: " _ **We have a special guest representing our United States Navy which is fitting since the Kettler Capitals are playing the Navy Rams tonight.**_ " Meg's jaw dropped open as a familiar figure in United States Navy blues and admiral's stripes stepped on to the carpet and paused for a moment to salute the United States flag. " _ **From the Pentagon our current Deputy Commander, United States Second Fleet and Medal of Honor recipient Admiral Tosh Nakamura!**_ " Thunderous applause from the audience caused Meg's eyes to fill with tears of gratitude for the crowd standing and honoring her husband's accomplishments. " _ **Admiral Nakamura was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty in North Korea in 1997. And he is here today to conduct the ceremonial puck drop after the United States National Anthem is played. Would every one rise for our national anthem.**_ " Everyone in the audience stood as one as the first notes of the Star-Spangled Banner filled the auditorium. The players on the Navy Rams stood lined up on one blue line sticks in their right hands helmets under the crooks of their left arm and the Kettler Capitals lined up on the other blue line. Meg could see Animal standing at attention, his right arm held up in a military salute, his fingers to the brim of his Navy admiral's cap. As the final stirring notes of the national anthem faded the announcer stated: " _ **For**_ _**the ceremonial puck drop, would the captains of both the Kettler Capitals and the Navy Rams please approach center ice. The Captain of the Kettler Capitals is Christopher Davis and the Captain of the Navy Rams is Katie Nakamura and I'm told now that Katie Nakamura is the admiral's daughter.**_ " Cheers and laughter went up from the audience as the announcer stated this. Meg watched proudly as her husband walked along the carpet to center ice and stood for a portrait with the two team Captains. " _ **In the audience is Katie Nakamura's mother, also an admiral. Actually a rear admiral upper**_ _**half and the Deputy Judge Advocate General with the United States Navy Judge Advocate General Corps.**_ " On the jumbotron the image of Meg sitting in her seat flushed with embarrassment briefly popped up before the cameras turned back to center ice. " _ **Admiral Nakamura will be joining his wife in the stands after the puck drop.**_ "

 _ **Kettler, Ballston Common Mall Arena; center-ice, Arlington, VA 1955hrs**_

The two Captains faced off at center ice in the face off circle and Animal looked at each Captain. Animal aimed to drop the puck directly on the center red dot. The puck was dropped and etiquette stated that the home team would win the face-off. The young Kettler Capitals captain gathered in the puck and both captains shook hands. Then both captains shook hands with the ceremonial puck dropper. Katie looked at her dad with gleaming eyes and said "how?"

"I'll tell you later..." Animal replied as he gathered his daughter in for a close hug as the audience in the stands cheered. "You have a good game tonight. Go get'em tiger!" He grinned. "I'm going up to the stands to be with Mom."

That must have sparked Katie and her team because from the official opening face-off the Rams controlled puck possession not giving the Capitals any chance to generate any offense. As Animal slipped into the seat beside Meg, she leaned in and gave him a loving kiss, murmured softly "I'm glad you were able to make it." and they settled in as a coupe of hockey parents to watch the game.

" _ **Rams have possession in the offensive zone keeping the Capitals on their heels. Nakamura providing the offense for a very strong Rams team this game. Up the middle to Hensley who chips it off the boards and deep in the Capitals zone. The Rams chase after it and the Capitals are stuck in their own zone as the Rams come up with it along the boards. Up on the point to Dickerson; winds up; slapshot: just wide of the net. Oakley of the Capitals picks it up and fires it out past the blue line. Ram's Dickerson chasing after it but the puck slides all the way down for an icing call. And the referees call it and take the puck back down to the Capitals zone for a face off.**_ "

Animal thought Meg looked absolutely adorable as she was on the edge of the seat eagerly cheering anytime a Rams player got hold of the puck.

" _ **Rams win the face-off. Rams with their second line out. Liu with the puck wraps it around to Ronalds who passes to Paschinsky. Paschinsky winds up...slapshot and a pad save by Yakov, as the Rams close in for the rebound. Rams puck possession is too strong for the Capitals defense to check and the passes are clean and crisp...and another shot on net; save by Yakov. Ronalds called back to the bench as Burel substitutes Nakamura on the point. Paschinsky to Liu to Kennedy to Nakamura ONE TIMER! Glove save by Yakov. And the ref calls stoppage of play as Yakov hangs on to the puck.**_ "

Meg looked at Animal "ohhhh. That was sooo close!" She said as she crossed her fingers and yelled out "GO KATIE!" A flow of players headed back to the bench as both teams changed up players. 15 minutes into the first period and Katie and the first line was back out on the ice.

" _ **Bradford, Hensley and Nakamura on a three on one as Capital's Johnstone gets caught up in the neutral zone as Hensley blows right by him. Hensley snapshot on the move just glances off Yakov's mask and deflects off the boards. Nakamura picks it up. Hensley is in front of the net Johnstone now back to try to shove him out. Pass to Bradford who shoots on net; blocker save and the puck bounces out; skips past Johnstone who tries to clear it. Nakamura in to get it SCORES! A beautiful off-balance wrister on one leg as #16 Katie Nakamura gets her tenth goal of the season. That was a beauty. You see Yakov stretch with his blocker hand just catching the puck on the bottom edge of the blocker which causes the puck to deflect downwards hitting the ice and bounce. Kudos to Nakamura who instantly settles the puck while off balance and wristing the puck just to the right of Yakov's descending glove and in the net. Rams up 1-0 with 4:46 to go in the first.**_ "

Meg was out of her seat cheering wildly as Katie skated past the bench fist-bumping her team-mates. This goal was 100% her goal as the last player who touched the puck was the Capitals' goalie; no assists tallied. Meg turned around and hugged Animal who just grinned at her as she wrapped her arms around him.

"How did you get out of the meeting?" Meg was curious as to how Animal had made it to the game as he had sounded as though the meeting was important.

"With a little help from Admiral Pruette." Animal replied enigmatically as the game resumed and Meg leaned in to her husband's embrace and they settled in to watch the game. It was a close game and after two periods tied at the third.

" _ **Coach Yates of the Kettler Capitals has got his checking line out as Coach Burel has the Navy Rams first line out. With Bradford, Hensley, Nakamura on forward. Dickerson and Kelly on defence. With three minutes left in the third period. The Rams and Caps are tied 3-3. Face-off in the Rams zone; Hensley wins the face off. Back to Kelly. Kelly skates back to give some room and dishes off to Dickerson, Caps now playing with a bit more offense. Caps goals having come from Daly, Randall and Weise; the goals from the Rams from Nakamura, Hensley and Dickerson. Puck all the way in the Caps zone. Picked up by Daly and wrapped around the boards. Stopped by Kelly at the blue line who takes a shot. Blocker save by Yakov, rebound cleared by Fraser and it's whistled by the ref for icing. With a minute fifty left in the game the face-off is in the Caps zone. Face off won by Santala of the Caps. No line changes. Daly with the puck up over the blue line up thru the middle over the Rams' blue line with Santala, Kresge and Smith. Daly winds up and shoots. Missed the net as the puck bounces off the boards and out front. 1 min 20 to go. Goal mouth scramble as the Rams try to keep the puck out of their net.**_ "

Meg groaned " oh God. I can't look".

" _ **Glove save by Robertson on a puck that was screened. Face off in the Rams zone. Yates pulls Yakov for the extra attacker. Nakamura behind the Rams net. Looks for an open team-mate to pass it to to clear the puck.**_ "

" _ **LAST MINUTE OF PLAY IN THE THIRD PERIOD**_ " automatic announcement signaling the last minute of the game.

" _ **Nakamura skates out from behind the net as Kresge covers, Morrison, the sixth attacker in to help as the puck is batted back in around the boards intercepted by Hensley who moves out stopped by Smith who just misses the pass tape to tape to Nakamura who ices the puck down the length of the rink and it looks like it's headed...for the net... AND SHE SCORES!**_ " Just as the buzzer went off to signal the end of the game " _ **The Rams win it 4-3 with an empty-netter by #16 Katie Nakamura with an assist by #24 Todd Hensley.**_ " Animal looked at his watch 2100 hrs.

"We need to get some dinner on the way home." Meg said as the parents emptied from the stands as Animal collected his bridgecoat and put it on. He really didn't want to display his ribbons as it was only the puck-drop ceremony where he had the full panoply of the ribbons on his blues in full display. The Navy 4-star admiral uniform itself was a mass of officer's braid.

Kettler Arena or otherwise known as Kettler Capitals Iceplex wasn't an NHL arena with concession stands but still a rather nice arena though with seating for about five hundred which was really all one needed for a minor game. Animal guided her, hand to the small of her back as they went to stand with the rest of the parents.

"We need more scoring from the second and third lines." A Rams parent was saying. "We're relying too much on the first line. Nakamura's scoring but what happens if she gets injured or goes cold."

Animal replied "You do understand they're playing for fun. They're not the Washington Capitals franchise, right?"

"Well it would be nice if the kids were playing for the league championship." The parent said. "We've lost three games in a row."

"...and we won one. A win streak has to start from somewhere." Meg retorted. "Maybe this win will give them a confidence boost and get them winning."

"Gotta play a full sixty minutes." Commented another parent.

"They're getting there." Said another. "Daryl, you're just not patient enough."

"Good game." a parent cheered as one of the players exited the dressing room.

As a girl on an all-boys team, Katie had to use a separate dressing room to put on and take off her gear. And soon enough Katie appeared out of her dressing room changed out of her gear and dressed in her everyday wear. She dropped her bag on the ground and hugged her Dad. "You made it to the game." She said happily.

"Admiral Pruette got daddy out of the doghouse." Animal explained as Meg raised a curious eyebrow and gave him a look as if to say, _you'd better explain it all when you get back home_. After a quick dinner at Beltway Burgers they drove home to Annapolis forty five minutes east of the Beltway.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD. December 22, 2017 2345hrs**_

"Are Uncle Harm and Auntie Mac still coming over? How about Uncle Bud and Aunt Harriet?" Katie asked as Animal drove Katie home. Meg pulled in not five minutes later as snowflakes came down pelting them lightly in the face while Animal and his daughter unloaded Katie's hockey bag from Animal's 2014 Chevy Impala.

"Hey honey." Animal leaned in for a tender kiss on his wife's cheek as Meg reciprocated and admonished him.

"Let's get inside..." Meg laughingly complained. "I'm freezing." The wind off the waterfront was cutting through their winter clothing. The last time Animal had visited the joint base at Elmendorf, Alaska, he'd picked up some winter clothes. He'd had to track down some subzero arctic winter wear which was greatly appreciated by his wife, son and daughter as their home on the waterfront was subject to chilling weather during the winter. The official reason he'd had to go there was because that was where some Navy squadrons were rotating up for Operation Arctic Spear; a joint RCAF/USAF/USN war game for the aerial defense of North America right at the doorstep of Russia;. That didn't sit too well with Putin but the JCS went right ahead anyway. The defense of North America was important enough to risk a few ruffled international feathers.

The warmth of their home hit them with a heat that almost seemed too hot after the freezer they had just walked out of. It was just cold enough to snow and Animal flicked on the Christmas lights; a little late in the night but it would only be on for about twenty minutes. When the house was designed, Animal wanted a master turn-off switch for the electrical plugs outside. That way he was able to shut off anything connected to the outside plugs without having to venture outside to do it.

As Meg shed her winter outerwear by the entrance coat closet, she asked, "So who is showing up at our Christmas gathering on Christmas Eve?" She hung up her coat and Katie's then sat down by the stairs to take her winter boots off. Animal was removing his bridge-coat to hang it up where two other bridge-coats hung to be worn in alternate during the week; each spelling the other off so that they could drip dry.

"According to your guest-list, I'm sure it was the entirety of your office, RADM AJ Chegwidden (ret.), LGEN Gordon M. Cresswell and spouse. The entirety of the Roberts family up to and including Lieutenant Michael Roberts and his spouse Marine Corps Captain Camie Cresswell-Roberts, as well as Chief Bud Roberts. Commander Phil Burrows and his spouse Captain Kimberly Benton-Burrows (USN) as well as CNO Pruette. RADM Tom Boone and I'm sure half the Pentagon is coming." Meg smacked him on the arm as Animal said the last with a mischievous grin on his face. It stung. "You sure I don't have to call into Valley Turkey Farms for a bulk order on turkeys? Anything I still have to get from the grocery store?" Meg threw her sock at him as Animal laughed.

"I could send you out for eggnog." Animal paled at Meg's quip as Annapolis Valley Dairy had milk and created their own eggnog; but that dairy was a one and a half hour drive; a nightmare with winding roads and blind spots that created it's own set of hazards even in dry conditions; wet and snowy made it an absolute terror to drive.

This year Harriet had decided to take the year off throwing a Christmas party and Meg had stepped up to the plate to host the Christmas party for the JAG office. Animal, on the other hand, was rather ambivalent about having a whole herd of people trampling through their home.

Meg prided herself on making sure that her pantry was stocked and ready for the creation of feasts for dinner parties. Christmas was a special time for her as she had grown up without a father and wanted to make sure her daughter and son didn't have to go through that. Dan Austin having died in Vietnam in 1973 which meant that a five year old Meg could barely remember her father. She wanted Jamie and Katie to remember family Christmases as a fun family gathering. And for the most part she had succeeded.

Animal was a senior officer in an operational squadron (he had been _battlefield promoted_ to commander for his actions that had nominated him) when the two had first met on the assignment of investigating his Medal of Honor nomination actions. They had become intimately involved on his convalescent leave. But as she had to go back to JAG and he had to rehabilitate to go back to active duty; their relationship had to be placed on the shelf for a while as Animal's Medal nomination wound it's way through the myriad levels of Pentagon bureaucracy. Their paths crossed again when she met him at the White House Rose Garden where he was about to receive his Medal of Honor as Harm was given his Distinguished Flying Cross, both awarded by President William Jefferson Clinton. Meg seized the opportunity with both hands and had never looked back. Of course it had spurred some jealousy from her JAG partner at first but he had eventually established a relationship with a vivacious and stunning Marine Corps officer; a Major back then, but now a Marine Corps Brigadier General in supply, after freaking out then JAG RADM AJ Chegwidden after notifying him of their relationship when Meg and her newly married husband ended up in Fallon, NV after Animal was assigned by the then-CNO to head the Naval Strike Air Warfare Centre (NSAWC). Harm soon followed as an assigned Dissimilar Fighter Tactics instructor to NSAWC serving under Meg's husband and Harm's girlfriend was assigned to the JAG RLSO SW adjunct office at NAS Fallon. After coming back to JAG after a three year stint at JAG Adjunct Office NAS Fallon alongside her husband CO NSAWC, Meg promptly went back into investigations with Harm, who had transferred back to JAG, and Mac with no delay was sent into judiciary and paired with Harm only sporadically where it wouldn't raise suspicions that the two investigators were actually closer in relationship than they appeared. Animal didn't just follow Meg back to the East Coast, his change of command ceremony preceded a subsequent promotion to vice-admiral and his initial tenure as DCOMSECONDFLEET under a well-respected Admiral named Robert "Tank" Hayes (who got his call sign for ripping off a drogue off an KA-6D tanker during one rather windy air-to-air refueling evolution)

That need served to give the then-JAG, RADM Albert Jethro Chegwidden, even more of a headache and the ever-present urge to tell the commander (Harm) to go wrestle alligators anytime Harm annoyed him, which AJ admirably bit down. It was twelve years and a stint in judiciary as a judge that got Meg her RADM stripes and a post as DJAG when Harm came back from his Fleet JAG post in London and ended up receiving his rear admiral upper half promotion, as DJAG to the new VADM who took over after Cresswell. Once that VADM retired Harm was posted as the new JAG. The two-star position had become a three-star position half-way through Cresswell's posting as JAG and thus MGEN Gordon M. (don't call me Biff unless you're wearing Marine greens) Cresswell became the first Lieutenant General JAG.

Meg and Animal moved to Annapolis in 2012 into their current place as Animal rose through the ranks and hit four-star and was appointed CNO. After his stint as CNO he was shuffled into a "wait-for-retirement" four-star post and then ended up having to deal with a no-load, limp-wienered, mealy-mouthed putz of a COMSECONDFLT which had him at about his wits end.

As they gravitated from the entrance hallway to the living room, Katie yawned deeply and said "I'm tired. I'm gonna head for bed. Love you, Mom, Dad." She gave each of them a hug as Jamie appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, Mom, Dad. You're home? Cooked my own dinner." He said. At five years older than his sibling, he was getting ready for college. He was more of a bookworm and opted to stay home rather than go out to his sister's games unless the Navy Rams were in the playoffs; then he went to support his sister.

Meg looked up the stairs and asked "Did you put the dishes in the dishwasher and clean up after you were finished?"

"Yeah, Mom. I was building a scale model upstairs in my room after dinner...while waiting for you guys to get home. I'm heading for bed." Jamie's comment was interrupted by a huge yawn and he turned on his heels after his comment. Meg and Animal knew that he had stayed up to make sure that they were home before turning in for bed.

"OK, Jamie." Meg replied "Don't forget to clean up your modeling table. OK?"

"Yeah, I'll do that before I go to bed, Mom." Both disappeared upstairs as Meg sighed happily. She could have the rest of the evening to spend with her beloved husband. Chores had been completed before having to run out to the hockey game so the only thing that had to be done was put away the dishes and after Animal changed into some Navy sweats, they both set to the task of getting that done before bed.

"Hey, hon," Meg stated as she looked over at Animal, "you were saying that Admiral Pruette wanted a meeting on Tuesday. Any idea what she wants?"

"Nary a clue..." Animal shrugged his shoulders as he wiped a plate and put it up in the cupboard. "All I could tell was that she was hot under the collar with Bennett's antics. You may be getting a SITREP fired past your bow in the next few weeks once she sets her NAVINSGEN bloodhounds after him."

Meg raised her eyebrows in question and said. "Well it's about time since he was working you into the ground. I'll wait on giving Harm a heads-up until the papers come through official channels but just from what you told me it's not looking good for Admiral Bennett." As they put the last of the dishes up, she leaned in to give him a kiss. "I can think of three things to charge him with, Undue influence, dereliction of duty, and disrespect of a fellow officer. Not the least of which is undue influence since his making you his errand boy..." Meg wrapped her arms around Animal and purred softly in his ear, "...kept you away from me for far too long. He should get life in prison just for that alone..." She thought his laughter was the most beautiful sound she had heard in a long time. During the ordeal with the DCOMSECONDFLEET position, Animal's sense of humor was practically non-existent due to the stresses of the job and she missed it; it had been far too long since he'd last laughed.

"I love you so much, Meg..." Animal said softly as he looked deeply into her blue eyes.

"I love you too." Meg smiled impishly, "Care to give me my Christmas present early?" Animal made a move to go towards their secret present hiding spot but Meg shook her head. "Not that one, honey," she said in an amorously throaty voice looking him up and down showing him overtly exactly what present she wanted to unwrap as she coaxed him up the stairs into their master bedroom and shut the door.

 ** _Ronald_** ** _Reagan International Airport; Washington, DC December 23 0730 hrs._**

To say the passenger terminal at Ronald Reagan International was extremely busy was an understatement. The arrivals flooded through the terminal as Harm stood waiting for the one arrival that meant something to his lonely personage standing there in civilian clothes so as to not create a spectacle. Harm knew that the plane's arrival was imminent. She had stated that her flight quite possibly would not be in until 0815 so he had to sit and wait. But for Harmon Rabb Jr.; sitting and waiting was not incorporated into his DNA so he stood and paced periodically peering out into the early morning December gloom watching the flakes coming down and wondering when her plane was coming in.

Contemplating their relationship since Cresswell had dropped the bomb on him almost twelve years ago with an assignment to Fleet Force JAG in London, Harm and Mac had decided that they needed to seriously talk about their relationship. Living together while assigned to separate commands (Harm to NSAWC and Mac as JAG was all fine, well and good but when Harm came back to JAG and promptly got the assignment to Europe, Mac had known their relationship had come to a fork in the road. Talking to Cresswell, who was noticeably reluctant to have Mac give up a career she had worked hard for, Mac had managed to grab a juicy posting as a public affairs officer for MARFORCESCOMEUROPE which worked out of the same office as Harm but reported to the COMMARFORCESEUROPE. It had allowed him to carry on a relationship with Mac and for that; he was grateful to the taciturn former Marine JAG. Now as JAG he was aware of the tightrope of relationship fostering as Lieutenant Commander Jason Tiner, JAGC, was in a serious relationship with former Legalman and now Lieutenant Jennifer Coates; a Navy psychiatrist. Now he realized just how much of a headache he had given his former commanding officers.

He had almost worn a hole in the carpet when the announcement of her flight debarking passengers brought him out of the almost mind numbing induced coma that he had entered into. However it was still almost fifteen minutes before her welcome form came through the sliding doors of the arrivals lounge.

"Hey flyboy..." Mac embraced her husband.

"Hey, Ninja-girl..." Harm responded pulling her into a hug that they both didn't want to disengage from. "I missed you."

"Missed you too...Harm" Mac replied stealing a kiss and maneuvering him towards the luggage retrieval carousel as they dodged the holiday travelers who were retrieving their own luggage. They made small-talk as they waited for Mac's luggage to come down the chute. "That's the one." Harm reached over a small asian man and his wife with a hasty apology and grabbed Mac's bag or they would have had to wait for another circuit of the baggage carousel.

As they walked away from the carousel, Harm commented, "Meg stepped up to do the JAG Christmas dinner. Harriet has done the Christmas get-togethers before but it's stressful with the twins growing up and all sorts of commitments weighing down on them. So Harriet wanted to take a break and Meg said she'd cover it. It'll probably be a slightly bigger Christmas party as Animal decided to include his friends in the mix to kill two birds with one stone."

Mac laughed, "Poor Admiral Nakamura. Are you sure he doesn't mind having half the JAG office invading his house on Christmas Eve?"

Harm snickered. "He got outranked by Meg." At Mac's look of confusion Harm explained. "He calls her the Fleet Admiral at home and Meg put a stop to any complaints." Tom Boone was also coming as Animal had served under Boone as a squadron commander and it just so happened that Harm's dad had known Boone as a friend and wingman prior to going down over Vietnam.

Mac burst out laughing. There were going to be so many stars at that Christmas party and poor Bud despite his recently received eagles was going to have his head spin seeing that many flag officers in closer proximity than he was used to; hers and Harm's stars included. "Party is on the 24th?" Mac asked as Harm nodded. "Do I have enough time to go shopping before then?" Harm's eyes widened in alarm as Mac grinned evilly. "Well...I do need a dress. Not much call for evening gowns on a base full of Marines and you do know that Meg wears her dresses well considering she is three inches taller than me."

Harm sighed as he rolled his eyes. Even though Mac had won his heart, she still felt like second fiddle when it came to the tall Texas tomboy who married Harm's RAG instructor. Women may be friends with each other but they were still rivals in the age-old custom of mating rituals. It was confusing to males how females, even when they'd landed a mate, still were competitive with each other. "Yeah. Mall's open today. I'm sure you could find something to wear there." Harm replied casually. He didn't bother answering the second part of Mac's reasoning. There was no need to play into her insecurity about her figure which to Harm; her incredible body was the next best thing next to Mac's brains and heaven knew that Harm missed Mac a great deal while she was at her post at MARLOGCOM. Too many miles separated the couple and he lived for the days that she was with him. _Is that a side effect of getting married?_ He thought to himself.

"We're going to have fun shopping, sweetheart." Mac grinned at him as Harm started to look like he was being led to an execution. For males; shopping meant researching prices beforehand and executing a well-timed strike with a quick trip to the mall, head towards their target store, locate item and a quick egress of the target area, just like executing a tactical mission plan. For females; shopping meant long hours grazing the offerings, comparing prices, casually scouting the other shoppers and a return to the store should another female be wearing the same item they just bought.

To Harm, the latter form of shopping trip was on the same level as being tortured by an ISIS terrorist. By this time they had exited the passenger terminal and had arrived at Harm's SUV which he was considering upgrading as the "damned mom-mobile", as he called it, was getting over ten years old. _Maybe I can still get something for this hunk of junk as a trade-in. Make that a Christmas present to myself. Mac never liked it either._ He sighed like a condemned man and asked resignedly, "Mall; now or later."

"Feed me and give me a Starbucks latte and I'll be able to hit the malls running." Mac said with more energy than she felt; the fatigue from the flight being nothing that a Starbucks mocha latte with three shots of espresso couldn't fix. Harm restrained himself admirably from rolling his eyes and saved his arm from a potentially stinging smack. Malls were an addiction to women and Harm hated shopping with a passion but he'd bear the sheer agonizing torture with a stiff spine and gritted teeth for the sake of his beloved wife.

"Well, off to Beltway Burgers and Starbucks." Harm said with a long-suffering sigh prompting a hug from his wife. "...then to the mall..."

"You're so sweet, Harm." Mac gave him a winsome smile. That made it worthwhile.

 ** _Bud and Harriet's House 0930 hrs_**

"Bud!" Harriet's voice rang through the house, "who ate one of the Christmas cookies we were planning on taking to the admiral's?"

"Not me, honey." Bud cringed as he figured that Harriet was going to go on a warpath. Despite the fact that Harriet had stepped away from planning and executing a Christmas dinner, she'd just had to bake cookies. After all it wouldn't be Christmas without Harriet's sugar cookies with green and red sprinkles.

"There were one hundred cookies in a sealed bowl and now there are only ninety nine!" Harriet's tone was strident. "AJ ROBERTS?! Did you touch those cookies?!" Eighteen year old AJ Roberts knew better than to go near Mom's holiday baking.

"No, Mom..." AJ raised his hands in mock-alarm. "After that paddling I got seven years ago from touching your Christmas baking. No way."

"Where are the twins?!" the twins were fifteen and should have also known better but they were mischievous and often managed to outsmart their parents however they were also well aware that the cookies were being counted every day and the nuclear eruption from their mother would have sent the twins into hiding. "Well since no-one is going to 'fess up...I'm just going to replace the cookie with fifty one of ours. So now the admiral's party gets one hundred fifty and we only get twenty-five. And if you think I'm baking cookies again till after Christmas, you got another thing coming..." Her tirade was cutoff mid-shriek as the family dog staggered into the kitchen, heaved, then threw up a watery white mass on the floor with half-digested green sprinkles liberally on display, then looked up at Harriet with a woebegone face as all bloodhounds were wont to display.

"JINGLES!" Harriet's shriek rattled the windows as she turned pale, rushed to clean up the mess, then promptly threw all the cookies including the ones reserved for the Roberts' family into the trash; threw the plates that used to hold the cookies in the dishwasher and hoped there was a dishwasher setting for **_sterilize_** She sighed as she locked Jingles in the laundry room with water and some food fit for canine consumption then pulled the sugar cookie recipe out of the drawer and resignedly set to baking again.

"So did you find the culprit, Mom?" AJ wandered into the kitchen looking for something cold to drink. Harriet gave him a baleful look and gestured sharply with her thumb towards the laundry room.

"Go do something constructive!" grumbled Harriet as she resumed mixing ingredients for another batch of sugar cookies as AJ staggered out of the kitchen suppressing hysterical fits of laughter. Harriet glared at the exiting teen and tossed towards his retreating back a supplication. "Go take Jingles out for a walk...please?!"

"...but it's snowing..." protested AJ.

Harriet glowered at him and growled enunciating her command request in separated syllables. "...if you want any cookies...that haven't been licked by the dog... Go...take...the...dog...for a walk... NOW!" AJ got the message. Removing himself from his irritated mother's presence, he shook his head as he walked to Jingles' place of confinement.

Once there he waved his finger at the dog saying "BAD DOG!" Jingles gave him another mournful look and wagged his tail. _The damned dog was expecting a walk_ AJ thought as he resignedly grabbed the leash. "C'mon. Jingles. Maybe Mom will be in a better mood when we get back."

 ** _Brookswood Mall, Arlington, VA, 0955 hrs_**

"Doesn't this look like a nice dress, Harm?" After about the third dress shop in the mall Mac had dragged him to and countless viewings of dresses, Harm was starting to tune out mentally and tire physically. At fifty-four, his stamina for wandering around malls in tow by a younger wife was starting to wane severely. His piteous looks of "please rescue me!" had no effect on the general populace rushing about trying to get their last-minute shopping done. The couples in the halls barely spared him a glance; too engrossed in their shopping to care. The single males smirked giving him _sucks to be you_ looks while the single females gave Mac a look of commiseration and female solidarity while silently congratulating her on the invisible leash and his well-behaved appearance. His contemplation of his dire situation was interrupted by a rather perturbed "Harm, are you listening?"

Harm wondered if the stereotypical "hmmmm" would do but looking up and judging from the glare on one Sarah Mackenzie-Rabb's face, he knew that response would not go over well. Gulping, he said, "Yes, dear...that's a very nice dress..."; took one look at the price tag and nearly fainted. $639.99 for THAT?! _Sure as hell wish the price was more palatable._ Harm thought to himself as he was surprised that his wallet hadn't leapt out of his pocket in abject fear and ran screaming down the street carrying his credit cards along with it. But then he realized that Mrs. Rabb had exact copies of those credit cards and he looked up at her with what looked like a look of horror.

"What?" Mac asked in a hushed tone meant for Harm's ears only. "Are you seriously thinking I'm going to buy that over-priced thing?" She snorted biting down laughter "You have got to be kidding me. I could get something cheaper, matching shoes, handbag, purse and some low-cost jewelry to round out the outfit for that price." Her eyes twinkled knowing she'd gotten the response out of her husband she'd wanted; it freaked him out. She let him breathe a sigh of relief and then said, "We've shopped the boutique stores and they've got nothing I'm interested in. There's a store on the other side of the mall which has better prices than this and a better selection. Let's head there..." She said taking him by the hand and coaxing him out of his comfortable chair as Harm sighed inaudibly in mute protest as he was pulled down the shopping mall towards yet another five hours of inexorably excruciating boredom. Yes, sometimes Life truly sucked.

At least if he made an attempt to look semi-interested in Mac's attempts to find the perfect Christmas party dress, perhaps he wouldn't have to endure the annual Ugly Christmas Sweater contest which would be transferred to the Nakamura residence this year. It was a Pentagon Christmas Party tradition started by none other than Admiral Toshio _Animal_ Nakamura, former Chief of Naval Operations which involved all four services in a contest on who could find and wear the most hideous Christmas Sweater available.

As a New York Ranger fan, Animal decided to wear the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey as a Christmas ugly sweater one year and pissed off half the Canadians working at the Pentagon. The other half, being Habs and Canucks fans; just grinned and gave him a thumbs up every time the Chief of Naval Operations walked by dressed in the sweater. They didn't bother trying to poll Flames, Jets and Oilers fans in the contingent. There were too few to even make an appreciable dent in the ratings as to the hideousness of that Leafs jersey. Harm was sure that if Animal wore his _Mark Messier number 11 New York Rangers_ jersey, he would have pissed off all the Canucks fans. Harm had heard scuttlebutt from a Royal Canadian Air Force major that hailed from Vancouver: Messier was persona non grata in that city.

Harm's thoughts turned back to this year's potential entries in the contest that could win the prize for being the holiday season's ugliest sweater and considering how disgusting some of those sweaters were, they could easily match up for the Ugliest Christmas Sweater of All Time award. But he sure as hell wasn't going to buy an ugly sweater just to enter the contest.

"Oh look, I found you the perfect sweater! Admiral Nakamura did mention an ugly Christmas sweater contest. This is perfect." Harm turned to the sound of his wife's voice and nearly recoiled in horror at the sight: rows of dancing Santas and Christmas trees alternating with wreaths and reindeer in green, brown, red and white. It was a work of absolute festive repulsiveness with the major color of that sweater being the color of reindeer scat.

Harm sighed, "If that doesn't take first place, can I light a bonfire with it?"

Mac laughed uproariously causing several shoppers to stop, look and point at the sweater and cover their mouths in mirth.

Harm groaned, "Honey, that isn't helping..." Which caused more laughter from Mac every time she saw his looks of dismay.

When she could breathe again she gasped,"I was going to frame it with a brass plaque if it does win..." And resumed laughing when Harm rolled his eyes. When her laughter reduced to giggles, she asked with a look of mischief on her face,"Should I use cash or credit?" And snickered at his look of supplication that she spare him from the humiliation. Nope, when they walked away from the store she had the bag containing the sweater in hand gripped tightly to her body with a satisfied smile on her face and a resigned husband in tow.

When she did find the dress that she wanted to wear to the Christmas party at the Nakamura's six stores later, Harm was more than ready to fall asleep on his feet. And when Mac lightly brushed his jacket-covered arm, he more than knew what he wanted; thus they both made a beeline out of the mall and headed home.

 ** _848 Holly Drive_** ** _, Annapolis, MD._** ** _December 23 1030hrs_**

"Mommy! What's that yummy smell?" Katie called out from the couch in the rec room.

"That's the mashed potatoes, sweetie." Meg replied busily stirring the pot with the ladle. "I melted some cheddar cheese in the butter to thicken the potatoes up. You're probably smelling the cheese."

"Where's Dad?" Jamie poked his head into the kitchen. "The staircase railing is decorated with the garland." The Nakamura household owing to the Christmas party organized by Meg was going all-out on decorations.

"He said he was going out to _Omiura's_ for some _kaki_. Your dad doesn't find himself in the Christmas spirit unless he has Japanese persimmons at the dinner table. That and eggnog. Thank you, Jamie for putting in the effort to fix up the staircase railing so it looks nice." Meg replied and acknowledged her son's hard work at decorating the staircase.

"No sweat, Mom..." Jamie grinned at his mother, "Know when he's going to get back?"

"He left two hours ago so barring any traffic problems, he should be back soon. Lunch will be ready in an hour and a half. Will you or Katie help me wipe down the table?" Meg queried her offspring.

"I will!" called out Katie.

"Keener..." Jamie teased his sister.

"Shut up, bender." Katie sniped.

"Knock it off, you two! One of you can clean, the other can set the table." Meg admonished. Both children looked at their mother with identical innocent expressions. Meg didn't believe it at all. She raised an eyebrow with a jaundiced glare at both of them.

"OK Mom!" They chimed in unison. Meg shook her head wondering if the two of them had gotten together and colluded to give their poor mother a headache.

Shoving a damp dishrag at one, and gesturing at the dish cabinet to the other, she said shortly, "OK...git on it! Now. Scoot!" and turned back to the rest of her holiday recipes.

The two little fiends shot each other identical grins and chimed "Yes, Mother...dear." with teeth-achingly saccharine sweetness.

"Quit bugging your mother and do what you're told!" A familiar baritone voice caused the two of them to cease being annoying incredibly quickly and hop to their tasks, as their father came through the door stopping briefly with several bags in his hands. He placed one bag on the large U-shaped kitchen counter and another bag on the island and then briefly, left hand encircling his wife's slim waist; two large bags still in his right, pulled her close and gave her a tenderly loving kiss, causing Katie to...

...gag audibly, "Ugh...old people kissing..."

And Jamie to pretend to wretch. "Awwww Dad. I think I'm going to throw up. Yuck, you're scarring me for life."

Animal smirked at his son,"Just wait till you bring your girlfriend over, son!" He grinned evilly. "I'll make faces like this:" he demonstrated by crossing his eyes, shaking his head, sticking out his tongue and waggling it and making slurping sounds..."every time you two kiss..." He smirked at Jamie's disgusted reaction. Meg was looking at him with a _how the hell did I marry him_ look on her face as she shook her head and tried not to laugh...

...finally resorting to muttering. "Good heavens, I have to deal with three immature children." And turning back to her holiday cooking.

"What have you got in the bag?" asked Jamie.

"Nothing you need to know about until Christmas morning. Do your chores." Animal said as he headed out the kitchen headed for the stairs...

Brother shot sister a knowing look and stage-whispered "Sneak in to take a..." ...and clammed up when Dad poked his head back in the kitchen doorway.

"...and NO sneaking into Mom and Dad's bedroom either!" He smirked. "I still have the receipt and they can go back, you know..." then disappeared again.

"Drats" the kids chorused.

Dad's voice echoed down the hallway. "Get busy with your chores!"

Mommy answered "Dad can see through walls..." as the two children looked at each other with identical silent questions of " _How the..._ " written plainly on their faces.

In the meantime, Animal headed with the remaining two bags into the screening room; the home they had bought was big enough to own a home theatre with a projection screen large enough to take up most of the end wall. Having a comfortable four-star's six digit salary made it possible. Being an admiral was akin to being one of the directors of a fairly large national corporation and drew a comparable salary per annum. Right now, the screening room was being used as Christmas Wrapping Station and Present Central and was kept locked with only access to Mom and Dad. Animal closed the door behind him and drew out the presents that he had bought.

Taking the one that was meant for Jamie, he looked at it. It had taken a quick out of the way trip to a hobby shop that catered to the type of scale models that Jamie liked to build. Animal had built scale models in his youth and Grandpa (Animal's Dad), though practical; having grown up through the lean war years in an internment camp, had wanted a better childhood for his own son started Animal out on the model-building hobby. Having selected three of the scale models Jamie had been talking about, he'd picked them out and purchased them. It certainly wasn't the fifty cent kits of his day. These buggers were over seventy dollars apiece. They certainly weren't cheap and his wallet was smarting after parting with over two hundred dollars just on Jamie's gifts alone.

Katie was a lot easier to buy for but her present was just as expensive. She'd been needing a new helmet for a while so having coordinated with her team's minor hockey coach to get the new helmet in her team's home colors. It was expensive but worth it in terms of safety. Plus he'd gotten a few more cheap figures related to hockey to round out the presents for Katie and some stocking stuffers for both of the children. All of those were laboriously wrapped and set so that the presents were ready to place under the tree and in their Christmas stockings late Christmas Eve, while the children were asleep. When he finished, he heard the key in the door and quickly stacked the now wrapped presents in a neat stack. The door opened and closed, was locked behind the entering person who wrapped her arms around him and kissed him thoroughly on the mouth, whispering "Hey, sweetheart, lunch is ready."

"I love you." He whispered against Meg's lips as they kissed again.

Meg smiled and said, "I love you too. Now come and eat, lunch is on the table and the kids are probably wondering where we took off to...probably making _old folks_ jokes."

"I'm not that old..." Animal grumbled. "I'm only fifty-nine"

"Darling, to young teenagers, thirty-five is considered ancient." Meg replied with a smirk.

"Well...at least you're only in your forties yet." Animal said. "And a gorgeous looking forty at that."

"I'm forty-nine...did you forget?" Meg complained, her eyes twinkling impishly as Animal leaned in and kissed her again silencing her half-hearted protests. "Now come on or lunch will get cold..."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Bud and Harriet's House 1255 hrs**_

The smell of sugar cookies baking drew Bud Roberts out of his hidey-hole in the living-room interrupting his marathon viewing of Star Trek - The Next Generation. "Harriet, are you baking again?" Harriet gave him a jaundiced glare as she silently pointed at the garbage can. Bud looked puzzled.

Harriet grumbled, "I have to bake all over. Jingles got into the sugar cookies, ate one and threw it up all over the floor. He probably licked the rest of them so I had to throw them all out." Bud nearly retched at the revelation, "Would you please run out to the store and get me some green and red sprinkles?"

Questioning Harriet's resolve was not a smart move for Bud to make but Bud had a tendency to stick foot in mouth at inopportune moments: this being one of them, "You mean...now?" He was enjoying his Star Trek TNG Marathon and the request couldn't have come at a worse time.

Harriet gave him a glare that could melt asphalt. "Yes! Now!" Her patience was dwindling after the events of this morning and she wasn't about to take her prized sugar cookies over to the admiral's without decent sprinkles. "I want the star-shaped green and red sprinkles."

Bud sighed in resignation as he headed to the hallway to get out his winter jacket, gloves, scarf and hat. "Yes, dear." He said gloomily as he headed for the family mini-van. Even his car was Harriet's choice. The DJAG's husband had an Impala and the DJAG herself had a Trax. If Bud was able to buy the car of his choice he would have gotten a 2016 Dodge Challenger. But no, Harriet had vetoed that idea. And he was forced to buy yet another soccer-mom mini-van. At least he was able to get some Blizzak tires on the ugly thing so that he was able to drive it without having to worry about loss of traction in the snow and it had been snowing continuously all this morning. Starting the minivan, he carefully backed out of the driveway and put it in forward; slowly inching his way down the unplowed street, waiting to put on speed until he reached the plowed section of road.

Bud had a love-hate relationship with snow, he loved the snow when it came to playing outside with his kids but all of them were in their teens and the Captain (USN) that was Bud had to be a bit more dignified to earn the respect of his subordinates. To be honest, Bud missed the care-free days of his youth, with his love for making snow forts and throwing snowballs: those things he loved, but he hated driving in the snow: the fact that the treacherous snow and ice combination made driving a risky venture. Too often during the winter, he'd heard of snow conditions on the Beltway causing multi-car collisions, sometimes resulting in fatalities. _Too many people in a rush to get somewhere especially during the holidays and risking not getting there at all_ Bud thought to himself as he carefully negotiated the route to his wife's favorite baking store. _Better to take it easy and drive safely._

 _ **Harm and Mac's home, Georgetown, DC. 1545 hrs**_

Mac curled up on the couch while Harm started on some dinner in the kitchen. "So how was living like a bachelor, the last three months?" She asked as Harm gave her a woebegone look as he started frying some vegetables in one sauté pan and some bacon in the other. "That bad, huh?"

"What about on your end?" Harm countered. "How was living in the Carolinas?"

"Missed you a lot; threw myself into work and counted the days till leave." was Mac's answer. "Your photo is right next to my bed, y'know."

"As is yours mine." Harm stated softly. Mac got up off the couch walking towards him, wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled into his back as Harm ceased working on dinner for a moment to take part in a well-needed hug after long months apart. The photo was a poor replacement for the real thing, he thought as he took her into his arms and they leaned into a tender kiss. Of course one of the two sauté pans chose that exact moment to sizzle it's protest at the temperature being too high and potentially burning the vegetables or the bacon.

"You'd better check the food." Mac smirked at him. "...and maybe we can continue this later..."

Harm reluctantly released her from his embrace and turned his attention back to the stove.

 _ **Bud and Harriet's House 1545 hrs**_

Bud cursed as he trudged up the walk to the house. He'd had to get in a shoving match with another buyer for the very last package of green star sprinkles. He'd found plenty of red star sprinkles and he had a burgeoning painful bruise on his arm where the bloody woman had hit him with a purse: that crazy witch probably had a ten pound weight in the bag and he was lucky he didn't have a broken arm. _So much for peace and goodwill towards men._ Next time Harriet could go get the damned sprinkles herself. The baking store was insanity personified. He was in danger of getting smashed across the face with a cookie cutter shaped like Santa Claus, not to mention somebody else broke open a bag of icing sugar turning the floor into the equivalent traction factor of a freshly Zamboni'd NHL ice rink. He swore it was worse than the Black Friday shopping experience. At least there was a tangible reward at the end of all that Black Friday madness, whereas with Christmas shopping it was nothing that one could conceivably find worthwhile at least for adults.

Christmas was a holiday for tots with all the Toys R'Us having squalling rug rats demanding the latest and greatest talking toy that would guarantee to be the bane of parents' existence until the toy was broken and tossed out or the batteries died along with parental refusal to replace them.

Some wag at the adult listening radio station put on a Aussie rodent-singing group called the Squirrels, except that they were singing the song stylings of a certain Australian comedic singer whose repertoire consisted of Christmas carols containing the foulest language possible, plus a few merry little ditties of their own making such as _Who Gives A Shit About Christmas, Hey Asshole -Turn Off The Fucking Lights (It's Three In The Morning),_ _Santa Claus is Dead_ and _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Alcy._ He was glad the kids weren't in the mini-van or he'd be hearing endless repeats of all the songs sung in teen-age voices and he would get in serious shit from Harriet. Last he'd heard there were dozens of complaints rolling in to the station.

After having to deal with his father Big Bud Roberts, Master Chief Quartermaster, Christmas was a time where he and Mikey had had to cower in fear as Big Bud used to come home hammered and when soused, Big Bud, to put it simply was not a pleasant person to be around, preferring to discipline the slightest infractions of house rules with his fists.

Frankly for Captain Bud Roberts, United States Navy JAGC, Christmas wasn't cracked up to be all that it was touted to be. He was starting to find kinship with the attitude towards Christmas that the Grinch used to have. Grumbling under his breath as he stomped into the house, he tossed his jacket on the coat rack wincing with pain as his arm throbbed and went into the kitchen with the bag of sprinkles. "Here!" He said shortly tossing the bag onto the island with a _thunk_. Harriet looked up to see a glowering husband. "I hope it's the right one because after this..." he proffered the wounded appendage to view; there was a nice big purple bruise starting to manifest on his arm. "I'm not bloody well going out again!" He whirled around and stomped into the living room. Very shortly thereafter Captain Jean-Luc Picard's voice could be heard emanating from the living room. Harriet stood there for a long moment with her mouth hanging open in shock.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD. December 23 1835 hrs**_

Meg smiled as she hung the mistletoe in the doorway and smiled as her husband approached. Strong arms encircled her waist as he gave her a tender kiss underneath the mistletoe as per tradition. Long gone were the blonde locks, as Meg now wore her hair in an auburn shade shoulder-length. She rested her arms against his shoulders as she leaned into his embrace as the couple both looked at their eight foot now fully decorated Christmas tree with the poor Christmas angel nearly bashing her head on the ceiling in the living room. They had an even taller one in the hallway entrance area taking advantage of a two storey hallway and a high-placed crystal chandelier but Animal's and Meg's attention were on the tree in the living room.

Animal drolly commented. "Poor angel's gonna give herself a concussion." as he looked at his wife with a merry little twinkle in his eyes.

Meg cracked up laughing as she snuggled into her husband's arms and kissed him again. There were plenty of indoor light strands decorating what would be both the dining room and main living room. And all were lit. Garlands hung throughout both rooms as well as the transient rooms that were going to be used for the party such as hallways and rooms such as the coat locker. "Our kids did most of the decorating. I think they did a great job, right, sweetheart?"

"They did an excellent job." Animal agreed and it was. Animal didn't have a clue about decorating so he left it up to Meg, Katie and Jamie and as usual, the results were phenomenal. It held a festive air to the whole house. Animal did, with Jamie's help, decorate the lights out doors. But that was the job of the husband: to put up the Christmas lights. It was dark enough and Animal pulled out of his wife's embrace just long enough to get the lights turned on outside with a flick of the switch. He returned quickly to Meg and arm in arm they watched Animal's handiwork on the light display outside; what was visible to the eye through the living-room window.

"Looks beautiful..." His wife commented as she snuggled beside him. The cooking was all done with the exception of the warm serving foods which would be done tomorrow, The turkey was being defrosted in the refrigerator and the portions of mashed potatoes and stuffing that were cooked today would be eaten today so as to have enough cooking pots for the party meal portions. The major cooking of foodstuffs were the desserts which could chill or be kept covered such as cookies and cakes that did not require being kept cold. The invitations to the event were formally printed and handed out two weeks prior to the event complete with RSVP cards and formal calling cards enclosed (both Meg's and Animal's), dress was just regular civilian formal for civilians or female servicemen or service dress blues for male servicemen (both current and retired) as they were headed to the Chapel for Christmas Eve service afterwards at 2200 hrs.

Animal knew that Harm and Mac would be late due to Harm's customary visit to the Wall on Christmas Eve. This night was a sorrow-filled night for Harm as his father had gone down over Vietnam on a dark night Iron Hand mission in 1969. If he, himself, had been born seven years earlier he would have been drafted into the army and had been fighting in those same rice paddies in which Harm Senior had landed so many years ago. Animal shuddered to think of the survival expectancy of those teenaged infantrymen who measured their lives in-country in terms of how many days they survived as opposed to years. _There but for the Grace of God and the fortuitousness of my year of birth go I_ Animal contemplated his luck. His own uncle was not so lucky and his name was also on that Wall.

Meg noticed his somber expression and looked at him with a questioning glance. She knew that Animal was thinking about his uncle and Harm Sr. and she knew about Harm's visits to the Wall. Considering her husband was ten years her senior, she mentally calculated that he was thinking about how an interval of less than a decade separated her husband from the youngest of those who fought in the Vietnam War and that he was thankful that he hadn't had to endure the constant fear, the disease carrying leeches, mosquitoes, deadly snakes and booby-traps that were ever-present in the Vietnam countryside. His silent nod confirmed her own thoughts as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I love you so much...Tosh." she murmured in his ear.

Animal drew back from his dark thoughts and replied. "I love you too so much. Meg." Cupping her cheeks in his hands as Meg's arms wrapped around his neck, he pulled his taller wife into a gentle but tight embrace, savoring his wife's lips on his own as they kissed.

 _ **Harm and Mac's home, Georgetown, DC. December 24, 2017 0925 hrs**_

Harm groaned as his eyes opened. Evidently he'd missed the alarm he'd set. Lieutenant Mattie Grace-Rabb was on the USS Nimitz on deployment in the Persian Gulf flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet on tactical missions over Iraq bombing ISIS and wouldn't be home for Christmas 2017 so it was just Harm and Mac this holiday season. "Morning..." He leaned over his still slumbering wife.

"H...arm?" Mac's eyes opened blearily. "What time is it?" She asked, her voice still hoarse with sleep.

"Almost 9:30 in the morning." Harm replied

At that Mac sprang to full wakefulness. "Oh, God." She exclaimed alarmed. "The malls are going to be crowded..."

"What?" Harm was startled.

"Harm, I left my Christmas shopping till the last minute because I was so busy down there and meant to do it yesterday but I plumb forgot..." She looked frantic. "Now I have to go Christmas shopping or Jamie and Katie won't get any presents from Auntie Mac and neither will AJ and the twins!" Mac frantically leapt up from the bed, rushed into the washroom to take a hasty shower, leaning in the doorway of their ensuite bathroom to tell Harm, "Hurry up and get dressed, Harm, we need to go to the mall!"

After Harm's experience at the mall on the day of Mac's arrival, he just buried his face in the pillow and groaned audibly. He knew already that he was not going to enjoy this in the least. _Christmas Eve At The Mall_ was the domain of some of the roughest, orneriest, maladjusted, sociopathic shoppers on the face of the planet, ones who would punch someone in the face if that someone were holding the last shopping item that they wanted. It was worse than Black Friday shopping and Harm didn't dare to go anywhere near any DC mall on _that_ particular day. And he'd done his damnedest to make sure he didn't have to go to the mall on Christmas Eve either. And now, thanks to his beloved, procrastinating wife, he would have to stick his precious ass in the _belly of the beast_! Thank you very much!

Mac in the midst of her shower thought Harm had put on the last few minutes of _Revenge of the Sith_ on the bedroom TV because she distinctly heard a pained _**NOOOOOoooooo**_ echo through their bedroom over the sound of her running shower but maybe it was just her imagination.

 _ **Bud and Harriet's House 1035 hrs.**_

Bud was loading the car for the four hour drive to Annapolis, MD. The road conditions were marginal at best. With the plows rotating through their area once every eight hours, the snow which was still falling managed to accumulate at least one foot deep in three hours since the last plow had made it through. It would make for an interesting drive. Being in Annapolis later today; at least it would save on the gas to get to the Navy Chapel afterwards. Reverend Turner was still alive even though he was in his late 90s now and credit be to his stamina, he still was able to do his sermon though he had to enter and leave his church in a wheel-chair. Harriet had told him that she was heading to the Nakamura's home early so she could help Meg with the Christmas dinner. They would arrive there between 1430 and 1500hrs which should give Meg and her plenty of time to get everything ready. Meg would have already stuck the massive turkey that Admiral Nakamura had managed to purchase: it was a thirty-five pound bird and two others were in another oven. Harriet was envious of Meg's house (she had seen it once before at the Nakamura's housewarming party several years ago, when Admiral Nakamura was still the CNO) which had three professional ovens; two cooktops and a separated gas wok range designed like a "Chinese kitchen". The freezer could almost be classified as a walk-in and her refrigerator was a 35 cubic foot monster. Meg had a walk in pantry. And a massive island in the middle of kitchen which had a built in cutting board cut from polished granite. Harriet was going early just so she could see first hand the functionality of that massive kitchen; she knew it was expensive but after all, Admiral (four-star) Toshio _Animal_ Nakamura made enough of a Navy salary to warrant giving his wife, RADM Megan Austin-Nakamura, DJAGC, the best kitchen money could buy. Maybe if Bud made admiral one of these days.

"Bud, did you put the presents in the car?!" Harriet had her throw which she planned to place over her lap

Bud looked irritated. "Yes, Harriet, the presents are in the car and if we don't get on the road we won't make it before 1500." Chauffeuring in adverse conditions like today with large flakes steadily and frequently falling made Bud nervous as well as irritable. Visibility would be impaired from the large flakes of snow hitting the windshield. He'd have to keep his wipers going today.

"Bud, I'm so envious of Admiral Nakamura's kitchen; it's so...so big." Harriet exclaimed as she settled into the car. The kids were settling into the car's rear seats knowing that they were going to be able to hang out with Jamie Nakamura at least so they wouldn't be too bored.

Bud got in the car, closing the door and ensured his passengers were buckled as well as he; his arm throbbed less today and getting the buckle on was a lot easier than yesterday. The cookies Harriet baked were in a travel tray covered in the back behind the passenger seat. Starting the engine, he carefully backed around so that he could nose out of his driveway. Looking both ways, he eased out into the street.

"Are we there yet?" AJ Roberts asked with a smirk and paled when he saw two pairs of unamused eyes looking back at him in the rear view mirror.

 _ **Brookswood Mall, Arlington, VA, 1245 hrs**_

"Harm..." Mac said softly, as Harm walked stiffly beside her. "Thanks for indulging me and helping me get the Christmas shopping done." All of it with the exception of her gift for him was wrapped and ready to place in the back trunk of his aging SUV. "When were we going to the Wall to visit your father?" It was an yearly routine that Harm, with the exception of the three years he was Fleet Forces JAG Europe, that he had maintained when he was stationed in Washington DC.

"I figure we'd better go before we head out to Animal's. That way I can pay my respects to Dad." Harm replied then looked at Mac who nodded acquiescence. If they chose to go to the Wall before, they could get to the Christmas party in Annapolis before the end of the first round of drinks. In deference to Mac's dislike of alcoholic drinks, both Harriet and Meg had made the strongest round of drinks apple cider at their parties. It wasn't going to please Jack Keeter but the Company tended to run him ragged so it was going to be a toss-up if he was going to show-up or not.

After Mac stepped into a shop where he instinctively knew she was going to find him a present he went to find a place to sit down to ease his back which hadn't felt comfortable since his last ejection into a North Atlantic Storm. The padded bench was close enough to the store to be in visual range and at least he would be able to get off his aching feet. It wasn't long before Mac came out bag in hand and he got to his feet so that his wife would be able see him. The bench was not made to fit his 6'4" frame comfortably.

He knew that the next stop would be at the Vietnam War Memorial Wall at the Washington Mall; a large flat expanse of park punctuated by several presidential memorials. But the one memorial dedicated to the Vietnam conflict resided within that sacred area and it drew tourists and family members to it with an inexorable pull. And Harm knew that it was the one place where he could be comforted by the ethereal presence of his father if he was not entirely at peace with the fact that his father was gone. And at least at the Wall, he felt closer to his father than any other place with the exception of flying his Stearman, Sarah. His Stearman was his father's aircraft that Harm Sr. was planning to rebuild. He had rebuilt it with the help of several people who had provided crucial parts for the aircraft.

As he and Mac walked back to their SUV from their stint at the shopping mall, the snow fell silently bringing a crisp feel to the air. The snow represented a sleeping earth waiting to awake in the spring. He sighed taking in the snowy vista around him at the shopping mall as he pulled out his keys. Mac had her dress on underneath a winter coat and Harm had his uniform on so people had given them a wide berth in the mall. His admiral's cap encrusted with gold threaded acorn leaves on the brim as well as his uniform with vice-admiral's stripes (one broad two-inch stripe and two 1/2 inch stripes above) on his sleeves gave Harm an imposing look. His father, Lieutenant Harmon Rabb Sr. would have been impressed.

When the presents were all settled in the SUV and they were buckled in; Harm started the vehicle and pulled out slowly out of the parking space and onto the main road and enroute to the Washington Mall to visit with his father.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD. December 24 1255 hrs**_

Meg had the birds in the oven with four different timers on the counter. She knew that she would have to keep a close eye on things until Harriet was able to get there to help get things ready. At least Meg had done the bulk of getting the turkeys done. And the rest of the cooking would get done faster with four hands in the kitchen instead of two. For the next few hours before the party started she would have to finish up cooking, then once finished; take a shower and get dressed for the party and allow Harriet to do the same.

The cookies were going to be arranged in holiday decorative plates that Meg had received many years ago almost twenty years ago when she and Tosh had first gotten married. Throughout the years they had made use of the cookie/dessert plates many times at several functions the two had thrown in different locales. Meg had never been much of a culinary wizard when she was single but that changed when she got married. Within an year of marriage she was pregnant with their first, Jamie, then five years later she gave birth to Katie. So making sure she knew how to cook well was a priority that she took pride in accomplishing. And she knew just how to whip up a delicious impromptu dish out of miscellaneous ingredients found in the kitchen and pantry. And it was a priority that she intended on passing down to her children as they grew old enough to learn.

And now that the kids were much older, they could help out around the kitchen and set the table. They could also rinse off plates and put them in the dishwasher as well as take them out and put them away, which surprisingly they did diligently. It only took one eruption from her husband who did a very good imitation of a Marine Corps drill instructor to drill home the fact that the chores needed to be completed. Meg had never known that dust particles could be relocated with the power of one's voice until Tosh erupted in a nuclear explosion of expletives at the kids to get their "~bleeping~ chores done..." and that "did you think that you little ~bleeping~ ungrateful ingrates think Mom has to do every thing for you?! Do you two think Mom is your ~bleeping~ slave?" after they had bitched and moaned about doing chores one too many times. The two were shaking in fear after that since Tosh didn't explode very often and from then on, all it took was one raised eye-brow from Dad for those two to get their chores promptly done.

With the party barely six hours away from starting, the kids were setting out the tables which the food and drinks would be on and covering them with festive tablecloths and making sure that decorations were sufficiently visible. Centerpieces on the food serving tables consisted of poinsettia centerpieces with glass tea-light centers in which would be lighted tea-light candles. On the tables on which the guests would be eating would be votive candle centerpieces on raised candle-holders.

Everything was celebratory of the Christmas spirit and Tosh had a little ceramic Nativity scene on top of a little table lit by lights. Most Navy personnel prescribed to one of several faiths represented in the Navy. Tosh had grown up in the Buddhist faith as were most Japanese-Americans but because his wife was Irish-American Catholic, he became Catholic himself. But the Christmas that was a part of his childhood was more of gift-giving and the Santa Claus tradition. It was only after marriage that he started to bring in facets of the Christian faith into his holiday traditions but still that did not supplant the fun parts of the Christmas holiday.

"Anything else I need to do, Mom?" Her seventeen year old son asked as he looked at his mom.

"Take the cookies and cakes: keep them covered and place them in a nice arrangement around the dessert table." Meg ordered.

"OK, Mom. Will do." Jamie replied.

"Anything I can do?" Katie chimed in.

Meg smiled at her daughter. "You can help your brother with the cookies. Carefully, please." She reminded her twelve year old daughter. Luckily for Katie there were no ice hockey practices or games during the Christmas break and no tournaments either, so she was able to relax and pitch in with the holiday decorating and party preparations.

"OK, Mom." Katie chirped cheerily as she set about helping her brother with the dessert tables.

 _ **Vietnam War Memorial (The Wall), Washington Mall, Washington DC, 1335 hrs**_

Harm held his wife's hand as they walked towards the familiar black marble memorial. It was an imposing structure, a stark wall imbued with the tragic sacrifice of thousands of young Americans in a war that was miles from home defending nebulous concepts such as "freedom" and "fighting communism".

Harm thought bitterly to himself _Are we any closer to being_ _ **free**_ _or are we just deluding ourselves?_ A few years ago he would have tossed his hat in the ring of blind patriotism (right or wrong my country) but seeing individual freedoms eroded with the inception of the Homeland Security Act and internal surveillance, he honestly didn't know anymore. Seeing Joe Foss get tagged by airport security for carrying his Medal with him - Didn't anyone recognize the Medal of Honor anymore? Or did the security agents stupidly think that it was some brass plated shuriken? _I don't recognize America anymore._ Harm thought silently (these were thoughts he was thinking that he didn't want to give voice to as they would be straddling the boundary of contemptuous words) as he turned his eyes towards his father's name on the Wall. _And you wouldn't recognize it either, Dad. But I'm just another cog in the wheel that is turning. And all I can do is serve America the best I can as its Navy Judge Advocate General and as a United States naval officer. Things have gotten worse. The America I knew and loved is turning on its own. Now I see what Mac's uncle Colonel Matthew O'Hara was saying all along and it's gotten worse since 9/11. America is rife with entitlement and greed._ __ _Dad, where is the America that I remember and love; the America I pledged to serve and protect with my life. The letter of the law has become the instrument to destroy. The higher up the rungs I go, the more I hear that I don't want to hear. It's hard to know what's the right thing to do because the waters are so muddy but I'm just going to keep plugging away, Dad, that's a lesson you taught me._ Harm reached out to brush some snow off the engraved name of Harmon Rabb Sr. _I miss you, Dad. Maybe there is a way of turning this around but it's beyond what I can do. I can only serve the wheel of justice and I hope that it hasn't become as corrupt as what I'm seeing done to those who love their country. If America takes away people's freedoms because they are scared of others, then you and tens of thousands of others who fought for freedom and all those nebulous ideals have died for nothing._ Harm bent to his knees in the snow as Mac put her hands on his shoulder. ___All it takes for evil to spread is for good men to do nothing. And if Americans become apathetic to evil acts and evil laws, then God help us all._

Squaring his shoulders Harm stood up whispering hoarsely as waves of emotion flowed through him, "I love you, Dad. I miss you." Stepping back smartly, he saluted the Wall.

"Are you alright?" Mac asked noticing his megrims.

Harm sighed, "I'll tell you everything later, but I'm OK for now." His dissatisfaction with the way America was going had grown exponentially. America's self-reliance and inspirational entrepreneurial attitudes were maligned by those who expected everything handed to them on a silver platter; their entitlement sickened him but he couldn't do anything until he was retired from the military and had opted to figure out where he would settle down to live the rest of his life. The option of leaving the United States in retirement enticed him but he would be leaving family and friends and Mac would be doing the same. But Harm had come to the disgusting realization: that those who wanted the things they used on a daily basis didn't want to pay for them; that those who wanted those very same things wanted to make others who lived in other countries and paid taxes at higher rates than Americans paid the IRS, to pay for the things Americans used. And the politicians were vilifying those who lived abroad for _not paying their fair share..._ to pay for things they didn't even use on a daily basis. _How could someone in the UK use American roads_ but the American people wanted them to pay for it just because they were a) born in the US but left or b) were related to someone who was. Now Harm didn't think himself extra-ordinarily smart even though he was a lawyer and ex-fighter jock, but that kind of disparagement and fleecing of those living abroad permanently didn't seem all that fair. And frankly he wondered if what he'd sacrificed all his life to do: protect and serve, meant anything at all. Accountability and love of a good honest day's work earning their daily bread seemed to be non-existent while those opportunists who would have others pay for them seemed to be gaining strength. And if that was the way America was going then he wanted out. Heavy thoughts to be thinking on a holiday that touted _peace and goodwill towards all mankind_. But he sure as hell wasn't thinking goodwill towards those who would make those, who shouldered enough of a burden working; work for those who wouldn't. His heart told him that if anything his father, who stood tall in the face of adversity, would support his decision. Harm wasn't one to run from a fight but this was a fight that he nor his family and any friends who were in agreement with him could win. As a currently serving United States Navy officer of high rank, Harm could not complain about things without being charged under the UCMJ for contemptuous words, however, Harm knew that he had to make some very hard choices about where he was going to spend his retirement. Harm had the talk with his step-father and Frank had surprised him with the depth of his knowledge of what was going on with the _Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act_ and the sneaky way that it was slid into an omnibus bill called the HIRE Act. Frank knew that America was getting exceedingly avaricious and corrupt and he wanted out.

Frank Burnett, his step-father, was affluent. As a VP for Chrysler Corp. he was making decent money in the six figure range per year in salary and with careful investments he was making more than seven figures, which according to those who had protested in the Occupy Wall Street entrenched him firmly in the one percent. And hardworking Americans like Frank were being vilified for their hard work just because of the dollar figure they earned just because they didn't _spread the wealth_ just like the ninety nine percent wanted. And Frank was weighing his options too. If Harm moved north then Frank would move to Chrysler Canada (the corporation was looking for a full president of operations for Chrysler Canada and Frank would be able to take the position) and seriously look at renunciation because Trish wanted to be close to her son.

And Harm wanted to have an honest-to-goodness talk with Animal and Meg as well as Bud and Harriet about their retirement plans. _Get out while the going is good_. He didn't know how they would react but he needed to know what they would do because when the mob came after their money, it would be too late to escape the tightening noose. Despite their talk of wanting _fair wages_ , the ninety-nine percent mob wouldn't hesitate to bleed the one percent dry and serve their heads up on pikes when the money ran out.

Harm deflected a "Merry Christmas" directed at him from an overly cheery passerby with a response of "Merry Christmas to you too" despite his darkening thoughts.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD. 1435 hrs**_

Bud flicked on the turn signal to turn into the driveway of the former CNO's and his DJAG's home. To his eyes, the home was near the size of his in-law's mansion. How the admiral was able to maintain it, Bud wasn't able to guess but he figured that if a Captain in the United States Navy made over ninety thousand an year, a four-star made significantly more than that and what he made would more than cover taxes on this property.

"They moved into this home less than three years ago." Harriet commented casually as Bud found a parking space on a driveway just recently cleared of snow by means of a snow-blower.

"Big enough house for four people." Bud retorted as he shut off the engine and gave her a look that he wasn't too happy. "And while you're helping Rear Admiral Austin-Nakamura with the party preparations, I'm supposed to make small-talk with a four-star?" Bud asked looking at the captain's eagles on his bridge coat. He rolled his eyes. "The man earned a CMH and I'm supposed to ask him _so how do you like the weather we're having?_ " He shook his head miserably. "How the hell do I get myself into these things?" And just then a familiar SUV rolled in. Bud looked over at the other vehicle which found a parking spot and sidled in. The engine shut off and it was a moment before the familiar form of retired RADM A.J. Chegwidden stepped out in full service blues with bridge coat and two admiral's stars on each shoulder.

"Oh, there's Admiral Chegwidden!" Harriet chirped cheerily. Bud held his head and groaned. If there was anything worse than making small-talk with an admiral, it was making small-talk with two. If the next person to arrive wasn't O6 or lower, he'd run out screaming into the snowdrifts. "What's wrong, Bud?" Harriet asked her husband, while their children planned mayhem with the Nakamura siblings who were now on the front porch rolling up snowballs with what appeared to be evil expressions on their faces. Bud groaned again.

By this time the retired JAG admiral had reached the porch to be greeted by the former CNO. As uniforms were the dress code of the party, the former CNO ADM Nakamura and RADM (ret.) Chegwidden exchanged salutes as Captain Bud Roberts, USN JAGC and Harriet finally exited their minivan, just as another car pulled up. Luckily for poor Bud's sanity it wasn't another flag officer but an O5; owing to his silver oak leaves on the shoulder of his bridge-coat, a sardonic grin plastered to his face, who got out of the car followed shortly thereafter by a redhead in a red evening dress covered by an overcoat who just wryly looked at the O5, then kicked him hard in the right shin, nearest to where she was standing. The sardonic grin left the face of said O5 as the pain registered. "Commander Burrows!" snapped the redhead. "Mind your manners!"

"Yes, ma'am!" _The_ Commander Burrows said wincing in pain.

"Sorry, sirs. Sometimes he still needs manual course correction once in a while." The redhead addressed both admirals.

"No worries, Captain Benton." Admiral Nakamura replied. "It wouldn't be Metalman if he didn't do or say something stupid once every fifteen minutes." The statuesque red-head looked at Animal as if he had been overly generous as to the amount of idiocy that Metalman could engender in a short amount of time as she saw Bud and Harriet approach. Of course, the two Nakamura children went chasing after the Roberts siblings armed with snowballs; yells and laughter erupted out in the yard. Bud had to keep from having his jaw drop open to learn that the redhead was a Captain in the United States Navy.

The door opened to exhibit a still in regular clothes Meg who cheerily greeted Harriet and Bud and grinned at Captain Benton. "Still keeping Commander Burrows in line?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." Captain Benton grinned back as she gave Metalman a squeeze on the arm while Metalman grinned wryly at her. "Sometimes I have to belt him across the back of his head to get his brain cells to align in proper formation. I don't know whether it's his aerial antics or his chronic stupidity but his brain cells get regularly misaligned." Metalman looked insulted as Animal snickered. As Metalman's former CO, Animal knew all too well about Metalman's quirks of folly.

Meg smirked."I seem to recall that there was a case of a VF-103 Super Hornet going Mach two inverted at 75 feet AGL somewhere in the Nevada foothills. I need to ask Harm if we ever prosecuted on that or if there ever was a FNAEB convened…" and resisted laughing at Metalman's response.

Metalman turned pale as the snow falling on the ground. As Meg was a DJAG she could put the hounds on anybody contravening the UCMJ in any shape or form and Metalman knew it. He resolved that hot-dogging was in his past. He had his XO tour coming up and he didn't want to jinx his chances of becoming a squadron CO. And how could he hold his head up while so far behind when his girlfriend had eagles and a carrier command (she was captain of the USS John C Stennis).

Meg relented on torturing Metalman and said "All of you, c'mon in and defrost. It's too cold to be standing out in the cold gabbing. You know all you Northerners like the cold, but I'm a Texas girl." She thanked Harriet for bringing the cookies and said to the rest,"We still have some cooking to do so make yourselves at home." She ushered all the people standing on the porch into the house, showed them the coat locker and guided them to the living room area so that they could all stand around and talk.

Harriet made to head down the hallway towards the kitchen as Captain Benton stood up and asked "Could you do with another set of hands?" She smiled "I'm handy in the kitchen and I don't burn water." She joked. "After all we Southerners gotta stick together." She winked at Harriet who was from Florida, which really didn't count as the South but as far as Captain Benton, US Naval Aviator, born and bred in Biloxi, Ol'Miss, anything south of the Mason-Dixon was good enough for her.

Meg beamed "Kimber, I'd really appreciate another set of hands in the kitchen. We'll leave our menfolk to hang out and talk about..." She winked at Tosh, "...manly things..." The two ladies followed Harriet down the hallway towards Meg's kitchen.

Bud looked like he would rather be elsewhere than in the company of two admirals who combined had the two highest awards in the USN order of military award precedence. As they all hung up their coats and their sleeve rings became visible, Bud felt even more self conscious. Even Commander Burrows had a ribbon-rack of accomplishments far beyond his own. Was that a Navy Cross on the commander's rack? One Medal of Honor and three Navy Crosses in the same room: one of the three Navy Crosses being on the rack alongside the Medal of Honor of Admiral Nakamura?

AJ walked over to Bud, "So, how are you doing? Captain?" The admiral smiled kindly. "You've come a long way since the young Lieutenant JG I remember."

Trying to keep from stammering, "I work as Chief of Staff to the DJAG, sir." Bud replied and breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the doorbell rang. Eager to get away from the stress inducing sight of seeing so much gold braid, he said, "sir, I'll answer the door…" and hurriedly headed to the front door. Opening the door a welcome died on his lips as his eyes met three uniforms. A familiar Marine three-star wearing khaki trench coat with three stars, a rear-admiral upper half with two stars on his bridge coat and yet another four star admiral, his hair sheet white with 4 sparkly stars on each side of _his_ bridge coat.

"Good afternoon, Captain" the elderly admiral stated as he grinned a wide smile. I presume this is the Nakamura residence."

"Uh…uh. Y-yes of course, please come in..." Bud stammered as he stepped aside to let Lieutenant General Gordon M. Cresswell, Rear Admiral Thomas Boone and the four-star admiral in.

"Animal!" The four-star boomed as he took off his bridge-coat to reveal to Bud's shock yet another Medal of Honor recipient. This one received for exploits over Vietnam during 1968 during the Tet Offensive flying CAP where he took the heat off a beleaguered Marine infantry unit surrounded and besieged by North Vietnamese Army units and Yakovlev bombers by shooting down two Yaks and two MiGs and utilizing his missile-only equipped F-4B Phantom to deter the enemy with low fast passes to keep the heat off the Marine unit until CAS could arrive in the form of Marine A-4E Skyhawks loaded with 500lb iron bombs. The F-4B was at bingo fuel and the only way that he was able to make it back to the boat was a fortuitous tailwind that allowed him to trap but he flamed out in the wire.

"Scud!" Replied the former CNO. "Glad you could make it!"

The Admiral named _Scud_ turned to the two other flag officers who arrived with him, "I found these two reprobates and guided them to the door." Both Boone and Cresswell grinned.

Admiral Nakamura introduced _Scud_ to the other officers as Admiral James Heywood Pointer, another former Chief of Naval Operations and Animal's battle-group commander when he was a lowly hinge O4. Meanwhile, Thomas Boone was speaking with both Cresswell and AJ. It wasn't long before another ring of the doorbell caused Bud to escape the confines as both Admiral Pointer and Admiral Nakamura were talking animatedly with Commander Burrows leaving poor Bud as the lone man out.

Walking to the door and opening it, he nearly had a heart-attack to see the current CNO on the doorstep. "Ma'am!" He snapped to attention.

"Good evening, Captain Bud Roberts. How are you doing this evening?" Admiral Joanne Pruette smiled at Bud who nearly had another coronary at Admiral Pruette's use of his name and rank.

"I'm fine, Ma'am." Bud squeaked out and Admiral Pruette grinned as Bud recovered enough to stand aside so she could enter the house.

"Joanne, glad you could make it." Animal said as Admiral Pruette entered the living room.

Joanne grinned at him. "Impressive house, Tosh." She commented looking around at the decorations.

"Investments did well this year, I think I can keep it..." Animal quipped as the two admirals laughed.

Bud thought to himself; _there's so_ _many stars I'm seeing constellations. Oh dear there's the door again._ Looking at his watch, he saw that it was 1550 hrs.

Heading back to the door: he'd made himself the de facto doorman of the party just so that he could ease his nerves; not that the last four guests helped any as they were all flag rank. He opened the door to see the newly minted Lieutenant Commander Jason Tiner on the doorstep along with a familiar brunette with mischievously twinkling eyes.

"Hi, sir..." She said.

"Coates?" Bud asked.

"Yes, the very."

"Are you still in the Navy?" He hadn't seen her for a while since the whole thing regarding then-Commander Rabb's assignment in London and subsequent promotion to O6. Last he'd heard she was assigned to RLSO Southwest as LN1 but that was over ten years ago.

"Yes, sir." She grinned.

"You must be...coming up on...uh...Senior Chief Legalman by now." Bud stammered searching his memory on enlisted ratings and customary time in rate prior to promotion.

"Yes, sir, that is..." She paused for a long moment, "...if I remained enlisted... sir." Jennifer Coates grinned at him. Bud took a step back as he looked her up and down. No military uniform tonight, Jen wore an electric blue evening gown that sparkled off the lights of the chandelier in the hallway and she looked stunning. As usual tonight Bud's brain was a half-step behind his mouth.

"If you're in the Navy and you're not enlisted anymore..." Bud began.

"Yes, sir..." The mischievous twinkle in Jen's eyes was back.

"...then that means..." Bud hesitated as Jen nodded. "...that...uh...you...are..." He was stumped so he paused indefinitely on the last "...are, uh..." Oh this was painful. Jen finally put him out of his misery by reaching into her purse and pulling out a calling card: handing it to him to read so he did:

 _ **Lieutenant Commander Jennifer A. Coates, Ph.D, Psychiatry**_

 _ **United States Navy Medical Corps.**_

 _ **Department of Psychiatry,**_

 _ **Walter Reed Joint Services Medical Facility, Bethesda, MD**_

Bud's eyes widened. The young petty officer (Legalman) that he had known for so many years was now a commissioned officer and a US Navy psychiatrist to boot. Considered a juvenile delinquent and seriously opinionated (to the point of insubordination which kept her from a fleet post) when she met the then Commander Rabb and Rear Admiral Nakamura, she turned herself around as an ET2 at Fallon serving at NSAWC then changed ratings to LN2 and transferred to JAG when then Lieutenant Commander Austin-Nakamura headed back to DC after her husband's change of command ceremony, Coates found her calling as a Legalman but aspired to a profession in the medical psychiatry field. Eventually promoted to LN1 in 2004, she was given a Chief Legalman's rating two years later after the Chiefs' selection board then taking night-school she got her Bachelors of Psychology then a commission to Ensign and was sent to Medical School where she was promoted after four years to Lieutenant. After receiving her Doctorate in Psychiatry she ended up promoted to Lieutenant Commander.

"STA21, sir. LGEN Cresswell signed it and two other flag officers including RADM Chegwidden and Admiral Nakamura vouched for me so I got in. Was recently promoted to Lieutenant Commander, sir."

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander Coates." Bud said heartfelt. "This is such a wonderful surprise. So you came to the party with Lieutenant Commander Tiner?"

"Yes, sir." LCDR Tiner had been notoriously tight-lipped about his recent love interest and it was not hard to see why as both had come up as _mustangs_ and from the same JAG office. Even though they were working in different branches of the Navy now, Tiner tried to keep his personal relationships out of the office.

They walked back into Admiral Nakamura's living room where Jen smirked seeing the admiral. "Good afternoon, sir." Jen chirped cheerily at RADM Chegwidden.

"Good to see you, Lieutenant, is it?" Chegwidden had vouched for her STA21 application so he wasn't caught unawares as Bud had been.

Jen grinned at the admiral, "Sir, it's Lieutenant Commander; just received word that I was on the promotion board two months ago and was able to put my two and a half stripes on officially a week ago."

Chegwidden cracked a wide smile, "Damn good job, Lieutenant Commander Coates!" He extended his hand to shake hers. "Glad to see STA21 did so well for you. So all three of us who recommended you for the Seaman to Admiral Program are here under the same roof." He nodded towards Admiral Nakamura and Lieutenant General Cresswell. Jen read that as advice to thank each of the flag officers involved in her ascension to commissioned officer territory and she proceeded to do exactly that.

"Glad you could make it, Lieutenant Commander Coates." Animal said, smiling warmly as Jen shook Animal's hand.

"Well, thank you, sir, for inviting me and Lieutenant Commander Tiner, sir." She beamed at him.

"So, how are you doing? Commander?" LGEN Cresswell asked.

"Well, I work out of Walter Reed Joint Medical, sir. Every day's a new day and I'm enjoying it immensely." Jen replied, a wide smile on her face, as they walked around the living room. Cresswell nodded. Jen had changed a lot from the outspoken but civil young enlisted woman who had been his yeoman. She now carried herself with the carriage of an officer but underneath that veneer was the same young woman that had been. And Cresswell was glad that she hadn't lost that wide-eyed innocence and the enthusiasm for her job that she had exhibited while working as his yeoman. And Jen was happier than she had been in years.

Meg poked her head in the living room, "Honey?" she called out. Animal looked up to acknowledge her hail. "Harm's on the phone; he says he's stuck in traffic on the Anacostia Freeway. It must be busy, even on a holiday weekend."

"Probably commuters. You're busy with dinner so I'll talk to him." Animal responded, excusing himself from conversing with the CNO and the other four-stars in the room. He headed over to the phone in the kitchen to keep from having their conversation overheard. "So…Rabb, what's taking you?"

"Anacostia's extremely busy right now." The disgusted tone in Harm's voice caused the corners of Animal's lips to twist upwards in a wry grin.

Animal let out a chuckle. "Yeah…so how's the snow?"

"Heavy as hell…might take us a little longer than we expected."

"Take your time, Harm, the turkey's still in the oven and we'd rather have you and Mac here in one piece." Animal told him. "I'm sure the guests will understand."

"We just crawled past the Sousa Bridge." Harm informed him.

"Man, that bad, huh?" Animal's eyes widened in surprise at the notification of how congested the traffic was. "OK…I'll let you go so that you don't get ticketed for inattentive driving by the Metro Police Seventh District." Animal snickered.

"I appreciate that, sir." Harm snickered back.

 _ **Somewhere on the Anacostia Freeway**_ **,** _ **Harm's Chrysler Navy Blue Sebring Sedan,**_ _ **1600 hrs**_

Harm grinned widely as he hung up the phone and looked over at Mac. "Nope, evidently, the turkey is in the oven and they're not going to start without us. We still have about a forty minute drive ahead of us." He informed her.

"Well, that's good." Mac looked out the window at the slowly falling snow; large flakes and persistent – the sky grey and moody. The snow didn't appear as if it was going to stop anytime soon. And Mac wondered if they would be able to get back on the road after dinner or whether it would mean that they would have to find accommodations after dinner and service in Annapolis. "Is Sturgis coming too?"

"I assume he is, since Captain Turner is giving the sermon." Harm responded, concentrating on the road as the flakes started to pick up. At least the traffic was moving slowly enough that losing traction on the road surface was not going to be a problem in any case. Mac nodded her head in acknowledgement; things between Harm and Sturgis hadn't gone too well in the latter part of their tenure at Falls Church and it appeared to most that Commander Turner had gone on a power-trip when he was assigned as JAG pro-tem. Mac wasn't too pleased with Sturgis either, after all, Mac had had to suffer through the majority of the two going at each other, with Sturgis accusing Harm of murdering a foreign diplomat when he shot down an civilian aircraft that had crossed into a _no-fly zone_ however, the pissing contest had been curtailed with Harm being assigned to JAG Fleet Forces Europe and attaining the rank of O-6. It was rather disturbing as both men had been Academy classmates. However the two had yet to really patch things up and it would be a rather tense situation with the both of them there at this party. Mac wasn't too sure if Animal and his wife had known the extent of the enmity that Sturgis had displayed towards Harm during the latter half of Harm's tenure at JAG Headquarters. Hopefully she could keep the two hot-heads from doing each other bodily harm if Sturgis was at the party. She wasn't looking forward to having her holiday season start-off with a fist-fight and she wasn't about to knock Sturgis' teeth back into his throat even if he deserved every bit of it.

It was yet another ten minutes before they managed to crawl past East Capitol Street North East and the traffic started to pick up back to its normal sixty miles per hour by the time they reached Benning Road North East. Harm grumbled as he started to accelerate the Chrysler Sebring to sixty to match the speed-limit set by the Federal Department of Transportation; at least it would go faster from hereon in and they would reach Annapolis sometime before sun-down, hopefully.

"Harm, are you happy?" Mac asked him suddenly out of the blue.

"Why?" Harm asked.

"You know, even though we're married, we spend so much of our time apart, with me working in Georgia and you working in DC." Mac looked at him as he drove silently through the falling snow.

"I'm not happy that we're apart…if that's what you're asking, but I'm happy that we're married." Harm replied. "We make the best of the time that we have together, not wasting it arguing over little inconsequential stuff that really doesn't matter when you take a look at the big picture." A few more miles were eaten up while Mac pondered that. "Has it brought us closer together in the sense of togetherness, Yes and No. We may not be physically together in the relationship sense with you being almost six hundred and fifty miles apart from me, but when we are together physically, it has brought us together. It's made that time together much more important."

"You mean that it's distilled our relationship down to the most important components?" Mac asked. Harm nodded silently…for a long moment. Mac nodded too and fell silent for a long while until they reached Landover Road, then she asked. "So…I take it that you can't wait until I retire from service so that we can be together." She gave him a mischievous look.

"Yeah…something like that." Harm gave her that knee-weakening flyboy grin, "Of course, I'm seriously thinking about putting in for retirement in 2020. Animal's retirement is coming up then and the officers that I've served with are doing their twenty and getting out. There's nothing there holding me in the service anymore." He told her with a look that spoke that he'd pondered over this eventuality for quite some time.

"Well, at least you have the benefits of having a 30 year career and a pension." Mac acknowledged her husband's explanation. "I still have another six years to go before I can retire with my thirty."

"With the High 36 retirement plan, I'm going to be making a decent chunk of change by that time." Harm replied. "Animal's stuck with the Final Pay retirement plan."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he was in service before September, 1980…which was when they changed things over from Final Pay to High 36." Harm replied as he looked over at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. Traffic was starting to ease up as they reached the John Hanson Hwy.

It was at least an hour and ten minutes before they reached Animal's home, pulling in just as the sun set below the horizon. Harm turned off the engine and sat quietly for a few moments while pulling on his great-coat and white officer's cap. Mac smiled at him for a long moment before pulling on her coat and exiting the vehicle.

"Wow, this is a large property." She said as she ran her gaze around the estate.

"Well, he certainly makes enough to warrant having a place like this." Harm grinned. "Let's go in, we don't want to keep them waiting."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Eulogy to a Friend**_ _: Byrhthelm (Trevor) passed away suddenly on October 4, 2016. To me; he was a friend, an incredibly gifted fan-fiction author and a bench-mark of writing talent, often bringing up literary tidbits from the greats to challenge us to delve in deeper; commenting on my stories and as he had to many others, offered encouragement for me to strive for higher goals. My friend; you will be missed on the JAG forum in this site. And I will miss you and your stories which wove a wonderful tapestry of characters that enchanted readers of your fan-fiction._

 _Though most of our paths had only crossed through this site; we, JAG fans, all have lost a friend when Trevor passed away. And considering how often he commented on my fics; I feel as though I have lost a mentor. There is a saying; "We shape our lives not by what we carry with us, but what we leave behind." He leaves this mortal existence, as a veteran of the British Army having served his country; he has left a body of written work that has captivated many and having created a legacy of caring for others and mentorship to other writers; he has left big shoes to fill._

 _Rest in Peace, Trevor, my friend; may flights of angels lead you to your rest._

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD 1720 hours**_

Harm walked up, arm in arm with Mac, as they headed up the steps of the porch to the front door. Knocking on the door drew out a rather stressed out Bud Roberts. "Evening, sir, ma'am." He said as he looked over at the couple.

"Hi, Bud." Mac said as she looked over at the Navy Captain.

"Hey, Bud…sorry we're late. Does the admiral mind if we come in?" Harm gave him a meaningful look.

Bud looked abashed and stammered "Oh…I'm sorry. I shouldn't be keeping the door open and you two in the cold, please, please, come in…" he stepped aside so that the two could step into the warm lobby of the home.

Harm allowed Mac to step in first and then he followed. Gaping at the two storey height of the ceiling and the enormous living decorated tree in the foyer, he was astounded by the expansiveness of the home. This home gave a whole new meaning to the words _New World Opulence_. There were several console tables decorating the home. Each held a model of a ship that Animal had served on. The USS Nimitz decorated one; the USS Theodore Roosevelt decorated another; the USS Seahawk on yet another, and the fourth and final one had a model of the USS Abraham Lincoln. A wide glass curio cabinet decorated the main wall facing the doorway holding models of the aircraft that Animal had flown; the F-14s from both the Raptors and the Black Aces decorated that curio cabinet, as well as a F/A-18F Super Hornet (which Animal had flown just once, before handing over the reins of the now-monikered VFA-41 Black Aces to his XO). There were various Aggressor aircraft, each a model of aircraft that Animal had flown at NSAWC. Looking closer at the inscription on the plaque, he realized that it was Jamie Nakamura, Animal's son, who had built all these models, of high quality and presentation. He uttered an audible "wow."

"Impressive, isn't it?" A voice startled him from his contemplation of the model on the table. Harm looked over from leaning over the Seahawk's console table to see Animal grinning at him… "He did it all on his own initiative."

"He's an incredible scale modeler. The detail in these models is amazing." Harm commented as he looked over at the model of the aircraft carrier. "And I don't know how he managed to create an F-14A Tomcat in mid-flight…" as Jamie had created the waves of the carrier plowing through the water as a base for the aircraft carrier model along with an F-14 just shot off Cat 1 climbing out after the bone-rattling cat-shot. "It looks real…"

"Yeah. He impressed the hell out of me with that one." Animal replied looking over at the curio cabinet.

"I don't know if one can classify this as an _I love me_ wall." Harm grinned at Animal while Mac headed off into the living room to rub shoulders with the other brass. "…but it's more of an _I love my Dad_ wall." He patted Animal on the shoulder. "Your son has a ton of talent shaping styrene plastic into a work of art."

"Yeah, he's a good kid…" Animal grinned at him. "Come on…let's go in and hob-nob with the rest of the stars in attendance."

"How's Bud managing with all the stars in the room?" Harm asked him. "Especially since I'm sure he was the first one here."

Animal just gave him an amused look. "So far he's resisted eating his foot." He snickered, "I think he's a bit nervous at all the high-ranks in the room…" he gave Harm a meaningful nod at the braid on Harm's sleeves and Harm nodded in understanding. "Harriet's in the kitchen helping Meg with dinner, so he was left to his own devices. I think he was playing doorman all this time, just because he felt uncomfortable with all the stars in the room. I gotta introduce you to Scud."

Harm grinned at Animal. He remembered Scud from Animal's Medal of Honor investigation; then RADM James Pointer, Commander, Task Force 20 (CTF-20); who was a gruff yet well-respected flag officer who gave a no-load XO of VF-41 a reaming out that Harm had never seen before. He followed Animal into the living room to mingle with the officers there.

" _Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!" ~_ Commodore Stephen Decatur, 1816

" _The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world…And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country."_ ~John F. Kennedy, 1961, Inaugural Address.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD 1740 hours**_

"You know, Animal…" Harm said quietly as he looked over at his long-time friend and mentor as a bit of space opened up leaving the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder in the living room. "I need to talk to you about something." Animal, seeing the change in bearing of his friend, narrowed his eyes at him and then guided him down an adjoining hallway towards his study.

"Go ahead." He and Harm had entered Animal's study and closed the door behind them ensuring their privacy.

"I need to ask you something." Harm stated clearly. "Have I mentioned the HIRE act before? It was signed seven years ago?" Animal grew wary as he sensed that this was a minefield of a topic. "You know that the government has created incentives for companies to hire certain employees, giving the employers a payroll tax credit if they hired them between February 2010 and January 2011. They also gave out a $250,000 deduction limit under IR Code section 179 and authorized $20 billion to improve transit and highways and reforms municipal bonds."

"OK…that sounds good." Animal commented. "But what's the catch?" Animal knew that there had to be some sort of catch because the legislation sounded too good to be true in terms of creating jobs and fixing highways/transportation.

"The catch is that they're going after US expatriates to balance the books." Harm explained. "They live abroad; some have dual citizenship and all have bank accounts in their neighbourhood that they use for operating expenses and our government is going after them for the money in their bank accounts."

"How the heck do they find them?" Animal was curious as to the implementation of such legislation. Surely the countries in which the legislation was enacted upon would object to such a violation of their sovereignty, he thought.

"The new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) enacts Chapter 4 of, and makes other modifications to, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. It requires foreign banks to find any American account holders and disclose their balances, receipts, and withdrawals to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or be subject to a thirty-percent withholding tax on income from US financial assets held by the banks. Owners of these foreign-held assets must report them on US tax returns if they are worth more than $50,000 and those who do not would be subject to a thirty-percent penalty on the balance of the account in question. FATCA also closes a tax loophole that investors had used to avoid paying any taxes on dividends by converting them into dividend equivalents." Harm explained. "If you search up _26 U.S. Code § 1471 - Withholdable payments to foreign financial institutions_."

"So what's wrong with that?" Animal asked. "If they're hiding away money…"

"But the problem is, they're not. They're utilizing banks that are local to them; those accounts are accounts that they use to pay bills, to pay for expenses like food, clothing, and education." Harm said, "If you use something, you pay for it, right?"

Animal saw the logic in that. "Yeah…if they use the roads…schools, etc."

"…but they're not…they're using foreign schools, foreign roads…and not tying up any U.S. infrastructure." Harm said, raising his hand palm out to emphasize his statement. "They're not using U.S. infrastructure…so why should they have to pay for United States infrastructure? They already pay taxes to the country of their residence."

"But what if they have to be evacuated?" Animal asked him.

"Horseshit." Harm said, swiping his hand down emphatically with a brusque gesture as if to swat away a fly. "22 U.S. Code § 2671 _Private United States citizens or third-country nationals, on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable, with such reimbursements to be credited to the applicable Department of State appropriation and to remain available until expended, except that no reimbursement under this clause shall be paid that is greater than the amount the person evacuated would have been charged for a reasonable commercial air fare immediately prior to the events giving rise to the evacuation._ So basically, you have to pay for your own evacuation in times of strife." Harm shot down that myth in flames.

"But don't we have an existing tax agreement with the foreign countries that they reside in already?" Animal was now curious.

"…then it comes to a moral issue." Harm stated, "Do we as a society expect others to pay our way for us?"

"We shouldn't…" Animal replied, looking at his friend with an intense stare that caused Harm to clamp his mouth shut while he listened to what his mentor had to say. "Every person in this country should be self-sufficient or if they're not, there'd better be a damned good reason as to why they can't…"

"Let me quiz you on a bit of history." Harm interjected, noting that his friend was going to go off on a tirade about how he didn't like people who didn't work. "Do you know the exact reason why the thirteen colonies left the Great Britain?"

"The Stamp Act?" Animal guessed. "Taxation without representation? Enforcing taxes without representation."

Harm gave him a wry look. "Good textbook answer. Now what is FATCA?"

"Enforcing taxation…"

"More aptly enforcing taxes without representation." Harm explained further.

"How's that? Expats can vote in elections…"

Harm snorted, "Do you think that the politicians care about expat issues? Expats are annoying horseflies in a state politician's bid to get elected to federal office. An expat's vote is nothing but a wasted vote in the ballot box. Their issues don't see any light. No debate…nothing…just a shut up, vote so that I can get elected and then ignore you until the next election."

"But what about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? I heard that it was up to $103,200 for this year." Animal tossed up yet another

"Yeah, but investments don't count. It has to be _earned income_ , meaning that the amount involved comes from your wages. And who makes $103,200 in wages unless you're a top earner. Investment income gets taxed, the foreign investment equivalent of our 401Ks get taxed and if you're earning over $50K, everything gets hit with tax and has to be reported on a Foreign Bank Account Reporting form known as an FBAR. We, as military officers, earn more than the average American Abroad." Harm snorted in disgust.

"Are you sure they're not missing a letter on that F-BAR." Animal joked… "Because that's fucked **up** beyond all recognition"

"Well, understandably, the expatriates are extremely pissed off about it. And if I were in their shoes, I would be too." Harm stated. "You're paying for other people's _way of life_ with no benefit coming back to you for the money that you pay out." He paused for a long moment. "Now…with the US trying to extra-territorially tax every other country in the world, what does that mean when they fought a revolution against Great Britain for extraterritorially taxing them?"

"Hypocrisy comes to mind." Animal said, a dawning light in his mind clicking on… "They fought to escape the bonds of extraterritorial taxation from Great Britain, but they're now taxing everyone else…" He looked over at Harm, "So…why aren't these other countries up in arms about this? It doesn't seem fair that they have to roll over and take US legislation on their own soil."

"Well, it all comes down to the thirty percent withholding tax."

"They could object to it."

"Three words, Animal. _We…have…nukes…_ " Harm paused. "…and since we elected a president in 2016 that if by chance he decides that they can be used… as a threat to enforce US legislation across the entire world… God help us all…" Harm looked over at Animal with a grim look. "We're committing covert financial warfare against the rest of the world. And the world's governments are complicitly in bed with our Internal Revenue Service to help us win that war. Now I don't know about you, but I find it extremely unfair to our brothers and sisters abroad that we're telling them that they need to pay for us when they have their own expenses to deal with." He stopped for a long moment, stroking his chin with a forefinger and thumb and then continued, "Frank, my step-father is getting out. He's just waiting for me to retire…then he's gone."

"Well…until then, you're a serving United States Navy officer, Harm." Animal said firmly staring at Harm so that he could clearly understand the imparted message. "Now, this could come back to bite you in the ass…if you're not careful about who you spew this out to. Somebody could take it the wrong way and railroad you into an Article 88 and perhaps a trumped up charge of treason. I'd say nothing leaves this room. Come back to me when you've filed and received your DD-214, then we can talk about it some more. While you're in uniform, any talk like this can be construed as sedition. Just a note to keep in mind; your military retirement pay will be subject to your citizenship. If you choose to lose your US citizenship afterwards and adopt another country's citizenship after renunciation, you may be stuck with no financial security at all." He paused for a moment to pick up his drink, wet his throat and then continued, "I understand that you're pissed off too. I was too when I heard of Angel Adams and her little spew-session of _somebody needs to pay for all my children._ Entitled types like that piss me off extremely and makes me wonder who the hell I'm protecting by bearing arms in a uniformed service, but I am a United States Naval officer and I shall obey the orders of my lawful superiors including protecting those who are entitled jack-wagons who don't rate any more consideration than a horse's ass."

"Understood, sir."

"…and I caution you…" Animal continued, "…be on your guard. Admiral Rabb. I'm glad you came to me with it rather than someone else. I understand your frustration, but the politicians that are currently in power are our superiors. If you are getting disgruntled, then my suggestion would be to file retirement papers as soon as you can. If you still need the thirty, then I'd suggest you squash down any feelings of resentment and serve quietly until retirement age. Anybody else, unsympathetic to your cause, would have filed a formal complaint and started an investigation."

"But you see things objectively, sir."

"Don't put words in my mouth, Rabb." Animal replied brusquely, "I see where you're coming from, but I also understand the ramifications of my actions and it wouldn't be in your best interests if I didn't warn you to put a cork in it until such time as you are able to do something about your resentment without having the whole matter come back to bite you in the ass. Your step-father on the other hand is a civilian, he can do whatever the hell he wants; he can pack up tomorrow and move to Canada. You freely took an oath to… support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and until such time as you retire from the United States Navy, you are under oath. Wait until you retire, then run for the hills if you still intend to…" he paused for a long moment to skewer Harm with a dour look.

A knock on Animal's study door interrupted their conversation. Harm looked over at Animal who calmly walked over to the door and opened it. It was Captain Kimber Benton. "Sir, your wife the RADM says that dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Kimber. We'll be out in a minute." Animal informed her and then shut the door again. Turning to Harm he continued. "We can talk about this after you retire in 2020. Goodness knows I'll be out too. You gave me a lot to think about. But until I put in for my retirement, I'm going to clamp a lid on it and make my decisions for myself when it comes to it. I suggest you do the same." He gave Harm a meaningful look. "Now let's get out there and go eat something. My stomach is growling."

"Your stomach's always growling, Animal." Harm informed him.

Animal chuckled, his demeanour noting the lightening in mood from the serious conversation they were having earlier. "Well, I guess I need to feed it then." He grinned at Harm. As they stepped out of the study, their faces were neutral, hiding the serious topic that they had discussed within. Harm understood just exactly why Animal had counselled him to keep this potentially seditious idea silent until retirement and had given him a lot to think about. Harm had always believed in fairness and the thought of others being treated unfairly had often given him sleepless nights. And he believed that citizenship taxation was an unfair situation for many expatriates of modest means. He also knew that if what Animal had informed him was true, he'd end up having to figure out a way to find another means of income even if it meant flying for the airlines, an airline like Air Canada or WestJet or something. But until 2020, he was a US Naval officer and Animal had wisely counselled him to keep silent.

As they walked towards the expansive dining room, the twinkling Christmas lights in the hallway brought him back to the current moment. It was the holidays and it certainly wasn't the time to be dwelling on such a gloomy topic. Harm opted to enjoy it with his wife who smiled up at him and made room for him to pull out his seat. First he helped Mac into her seat, holding it for his wife to settle in and then seated himself.

There was scattered conversation as everyone seated themselves. The majority of the dinner guests were Catholic and as such the Christmas Eve dinner prayer was spoken by Animal. " _God of all gifts, we thank you for the many ways you have blessed us this day. We are grateful each of those who are gathered around this table. We ask you to bless us and our food and to bless those we love who are not with us today. In our gratitude and love, we remember your humble birth into our lives and pray for those who are without enough to eat. We remember the stable in which you were born and pray for those who have no place to live. We remember your challenging message of caring and giving and we pray for peace in families and nations throughout the world. We bless you and give you thanks in your Spirit who brings our hearts to life the Christmas Day and forever. Amen._ "

Animal had changed over into service blues much earlier in the afternoon sometime after the rest of the guests had gotten there; on the shorter man, the four star rank braids had come up three quarters of the way up his jacket sleeve, almost to his elbow. Meg had changed over from her dinner preparation clothes into an evening gown in navy blue that set off her auburn hair and was seated to the right of Animal. The dinner preparation had produced three 35 pound turkeys with chestnut and sage as well as a bread stuffing. Two large bowls filled with mashed potatoes, several gravy sauce boats filled with gravy and a bowl of squash. There were several large serving plates with vegetables. Animal had gone out and gotten oysters as well as shrimp for appetizers. There were also a few vegetarian dishes that Harm could eat so that he could have a substantial meal.

Dinner was a muted affair as conversation waned due to people wanting to eat before the drive to the US Naval Academy Chapel where Chaplain Matthew Turner would be giving the sermon for which they would all attend. It was a seventeen minute drive from Animal's place to the USNA Chapel under ideal conditions. They would want to take it much slower due to the weather. They would all meet up back at Animal's house for dessert afterwards. Chaplain Turner and Sturgis as well would join them to partake of dessert.

After all…there was plenty left for everyone and then some.

 _ **After Dinner,**_ _**848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD 1910 hours**_

"What time is the service?" Meg asked Animal as they got ready to depart.

"2000 hrs." Animal replied as he helped her into her coat.

"You think it will take us fifty minutes to get to the chapel." Meg asked.

"I doubt it but in this weather, I don't want to take any chances. We may drive slower, but at least we'll get there safely." He replied as he buttoned his great-coat which had his gold encrusted shoulder-board rank of a full four-star. Frankly, this would be a convoy heading over to the USNA Chapel and Chaplain Turner would have a full audience tonight.

The officers all headed out into the frigid cold as they all separated to their individual modes of transportation, but all bound for one location that night.

 _ **USNA Chapel, Annapolis, MD 1945 hrs**_

"There's parking…" Meg indicated as they found parking right in front of the chapel, along the bend in the road. Animal pulled into the parking spot, just as Harm pulled up right behind him. Animal could see Chaplain Turner, leaning on his cane, standing by the open door of the Naval Academy Chapel cheerily staring into the tree-lined avenue as he watched his parishioners emerge from their vehicles and make their way towards the chapel entrance.

It was certainly a frigid evening with the temperature approaching 34 degrees, slightly warmer than freezing allowing for precipitation in the form of snow. And Animal was certain that Chaplain Turner only dressed in his service blues was feeling every bit of that 34 degree temperature so he quickened his pace through the snow in consideration for Chaplain Turner's advanced age, only just enough so that Meg wouldn't trip and fall on the road.

"Good evening…Merry Christmas." Chaplain Turner said as he greeted Animal and the rest of the parishioners as they filed up the stairs outside of the entrance to the church. "I'm so glad that you were able to make it in this weather." He greeted each parishioner with a shake of the hand and a smile as each stepped through the door.

"Thank you, Captain Turner." Animal replied as he entered the vestibule of the chapel, removing his cover as he looked in towards the nave, the long aisle carpeted with blue. "Looking forward to your sermon this evening."

"Well…as a shepherd, I can only guide my flock. Admiral, The rest is up to them." The chaplain said to Animal while smiling at each parishioner who entered the chapel, individually, as they walked by down the aisle within the nave and walked to their seats. Animal nodded silently.

Even though Metalman was a Mormon by faith, he nodded congenially to Chaplain Turner, shaking his hand and politely saying "Thank you for the invitation. Sir."

"Thank you for coming, Commander." Chaplain Turner smiled and gestured to the nave. "Please enjoy the service. We welcome all brothers of Christian faith." He said intuitively knowing that Commander Burrows wasn't of the Catholic faith, yet made him feel welcome, trying to ease CDR Burrows' unease.

"Good to see you, Admiral." Harm looked over to see Sturgis in civilian dress, a suit and a tie and silently raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

Sturgis answered his silent question, "I got out in 2015; did my thirty and decided that I'm done. I'm a civilian lawyer in DC. Evidently I make more than triple what I earned in the service. It's not bad, I'm driving a BMW now rather than my old Chevy. And I'm up for partner in a few years. It's not bad work; I litigate for corporations doing mostly copyright issues. You're lifing it?" he said with some surprise as he looked over at Harm.

"Nothing wrong with that, Sturgis…" Harm replied. "As the Judge Advocate General I'm responsible for all legal matters in the US Navy, so it keeps me busy enough." The tone was soft, but the acid point was clear.

Sturgis raised both hands palm out indicating that he didn't want to increase the tension in the chapel between the two of them. "Well, you _were_ the one that liked Navy life, I guess. I just wanted a secure pension to fall back on. How are things between you and Mac?"

"Just fine…even though we're apart for more than we're together, it seems to be working out well…the big test will be when I retire, since she'll have to find us both a place while she finishes up her service. She'll have three years left after I leave the service." Harm replied, his eyes not betraying much in the way of emotion.

Sturgis wondered silently how far the state of their friendship had fallen. At the Naval Academy, it seemed as if the quartet of Jack Keeter, Sturgis Turner, Luke Pendry and Harmon Rabb Jr. were inseparable…they were four brothers from a different mother, but times had changed, they had all changed. Luke was six feet under, Keeter was off working for the Company and the two of them that were left, had each grown apart to the point where they could find no common ground. "Any plans for after?"

"Don't know yet. All depends on how the climate is in the US…" Harm indicated. "We might travel…who knows. It all depends on Mac and what she wants to do." Looking at his watch, he said, "I think we should go find a seat…" he peered around for where Mac was sitting waiting for him. "I'm sure your father wants to start the sermon before the weather gets any worse than what it already is." Sturgis nodded and the two men separated; Sturgis to find his seat and Harm to make his way to Mac who greeted him with an inquiring smile.

The murmur of conversation ceased in the nave amongst the parishioners who were catching up on last-minute greetings as Chaplain Turner made his way to the pulpit. "Thank you all for coming here on this night, this holy night when our Lord Jesus Christ first came into this world. You have braved snow and treacherous driving conditions to gather here tonight to listen to my oratory, which I will try to make as brief as possible so that we are not all spending the night here due to unplowed roads. We are all gathered here today to listen to God's word; to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and to celebrate the Christmas season, but in Christian homes everywhere, there are those who are grieving the loss of their family; losses that may be recent or in the distant past, but present nonetheless. So tonight I will be talking about Christmas and Loss. _"_ He paused for a long moment while he looked over at the listening parishioners.

"Is Christmas also for those who grieve? Such a question would perplex those who experienced the events that night in humble Bethlehem and those who followed Christ throughout his earthly ministry. Christmas is especially for those who grieve. Jesus is the same Christ that _has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4)_ He shares our griefs, our sorrows and our afflictions." Chaplain Turner spoke to the congregation who sat listening as he quoted the Holy Book.

"In 1918, a special service was written for the choir of King's College at Britain's Cambridge University. The "Service of Nine Lessons and Carols" was first read and sung in that same chapel. In the "Bidding Prayer" prepared to call the congregation together was spoken the truths of Christmas in unforgettable prose:

 _Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmastide our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in a manger._

 _Therefore let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child._

 _But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace on earth and goodwill among all his people; for unity and brotherhood within the Church he came to build, and especially in this city._

 _And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love._ " Chaplain Turner continued, his voice raising as it rang through the nave. "We are called now to remember on the eve of Christ's birth, that in Christ's name we are to remember the poor…we are to remember the cold and the hungry; we are to remember the helpless and the weak, the oppressed and the sick, the unloved, the aged and the children. Those…who do not know Christ and those who mourn…" he paused again to let that sink in as many heads nodded. "There are Christian households who mourn the loss of their loved ones, far too many to count. And it will be so until Christ comes again. For our Father so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son to carry the sins of the world and die for our sins and suffer for our iniquity. That Jesus died on the cross to bear witness that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He was raised from the Holy Sepulchre on the third day, conquering death and sin to rise to heaven on the seventh day to take his place at the right hand of God. The eternal truth is that true salvation is to believe and to trust in Jesus Christ. Christmas is especially for those who mourn and suffer grief, for the message of Christmas is nothing less than the death of death in _the death and resurrection of Christ_. And them that mourn… We grieve for those who have passed, knowing that death is but a signpost on the pathway of ever-lasting life with God. We know that they are with our Lord because to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. We stand together in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, declaring with the Apostle Paul that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God. For, it was Christ himself who promised that our " _sorrow will turn into joy_."

Chaplain Turner paused for a long moment, head raised to the rafters…his arms out, palms in the air, standing silent, then lowered his hands and continued. "The Bidding Prayer of 1918 concludes: _Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are for ever one._ " He paused yet again and then continued "Those who have passed away before us, who are bathed in the presence of the Lord, are with us in Christmas joy; they rejoice with us, _but upon another shore and in a greater light_ …our loved ones who have gone before us are bathed in the _hope was in the Word made flesh_ and the truth of Christmas is proclaimed _in the Lord Jesus we are for ever one._ We are created for eternal glory. Your loved one was not merely created for that empty chair. We must look upon these truths and realize that Christmas is especially for those who grieve. And for those who grieve: The chair is empty but heaven will be full; those who have gone before us and who are in Christ celebrate Christmas with us, upon another shore…and in a greater light." They are forever one through Jesus Christ." (paraphrased from an article by Albert Mohler)

In invocation, he raised his hands and spoke. " _Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold his glory, and are bathed in its radiance._

 _Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas, the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder. Be with us as we help those who are sundered by grief and sadness. We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, wise men. Help us to rise bigger than we are. Amen._ "

" _Eternal God, look kindly on your servants; we send them forth as messengers of salvation and peace marked with the sign of the cross. Guide their steps with your mighty arm and with the power of your grace strengthen them in spirit, so that they will not falter through weariness. Make their words the echo of Christ's voice, so that those who hear them may be drawn to follow the Gospel. Fill the hearts of these, our friends, with your Holy Spirit so that they may lead many to you, the Father of all, to sing your praises in your holy temple. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen._ "

" _And may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, (+) and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace to bring the Good News to others and to the love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God._ " Chaplain Turner blessed the congregation and departed the pulpit to mingle with the parishioners who thanked him for his insightful sermon as they made their way back to the vestibule, gathering coats and hats as well as officer's covers, placing them on as they stepped out into the snow.

Sturgis and Chaplain Turner assured them that they would be on their way shortly as Animal and the rest of his party assembled in the vestibule. Nodding, Animal and Harm headed out to their cars with their respective wives; Animal to his Impala and Harm to his own vehicle. They were going to begin the forty minute drive slowly back to Animal's house where they would partake of some dessert before steeling themselves to brave the weather to return to their homes in DC. Considering the amount of snow, it was going to be a very tough drive and it was coming down in large white flakes which brushed at the faces of those who were out in it. There was a slight breeze and it cut through the uniform bridge-coats that the officers wore. Since the majority of the parishioners who had joined Chaplain Turner that night for his service were officers and spouses who had gone to Animal's party, there seemed to be a large convoy headed towards 848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, Maryland over the Naval Academy Bridge on the Baltimore Annapolis Blvd.

 _ **848 Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD, 2145 hrs.**_

It was at least thirty-five to forty minutes before the convoy pulled into Animal's Holly Drive estate. Animal quickly exited the vehicle and opened the door to the house, allowing people to enter the home and make their way to the kitchen, the dining room and the living room respectively. There was pecan pie, cinnamon apple pies, plates of shortbread cookies topped with almond paste icing and other holiday goodies; cakes, cookies. Harriet also had several plates full of her own shortbread cookies with sprinkles for guests to partake. Meg had also made gingerbread cookies for the for the children who had retired to the theatre to watch Christmas movies such as the Muppet Christmas Carol, a Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf and others. Eggnog in a punch bowl was removed from the fridge and placed on the center of the serving table. Punch was also there as well. Alcoholic beverages were kept to a minimum as Animal knew that the guests would be heading home.

Animal had a luxury hifi stereo system comprised of an Arcam AVR850 Atmos Receiver/Amplifier, Marantz CD6006 CD player, Rega RP8/Apheta turntable, and Pyle-Home PIDOCK1 Universal iPod/iPhone Docking Station for Audio Output for Animal's iPhone 6s. In 2017, no-one ever listened to cassette tapes any longer so they went out of vogue. Harm was looking at it with some envy, the stereo was at least $13,065.00; a far lot more expensive than his own Denon system. Evidently, Animal had put some serious thought into his hifi audio system. Animal walked over to his shelf, thumbed through several neatly arranged rows of CDs and picked one out. It was the _M.A. Charpentier_ Pastorale recording which contained the _In Navitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Canticum H. 414_. He put it on low so that it didn't drown out the conversations taking place in the home. It only played for about fifteen minutes so after that, he put his iPhone 6s on the dock and put more familiar but still classically played Christmas carols on the stereo system. Considering that the iPhone 6s iTunes would end up playing through his whole playlist, which he had sanitised of his usual listening to turn it to completely Christmas tunes, he figured that would make it more agreeable to the audience.

"Nice system" complemented Harm as he gazed over at the audio system with some longing.

"It has its uses." Animal admitted, his comment accompanied with a wry smile. "Meg wasn't too enamored of the price tag though."

"Well, I'm sure she's gotten used to your eccentric tastes in music." Harm replied laughing as Animal nodded.

"Well…I grew up on it so naturally it just became a part of my aural experience. She, on the other hand, tolerates it and occasionally uses my system to play Travis Tritt or Dwight Yoakam or whatever the heck she listens to. But well, you know…in marriage you gotta compromise, right? She fixes my computer when I invariably do something wrong to it." Animal gave explanation as Harm laughed knowing just what kind of puzzled expression Animal would have on his face looking over at a blue-screen of death. "I tend to prefer classical music more than the manufactured crap that's out there now. Who the heck's going to remember those chanting fools down the road two hundred and fifty years later?" he commented sarcastically on the state of commercialized music nowadays and then was startled by a hand winding around his waist. Turning to the person who had interposed herself between Harm and him, Animal noticed that it was his wife who gave him a comically un-amused look.

"Are you commentin' on my music tastes?" Meg enquired archly. "Dear?" she skewered Animal with a rather withering look. "…on the very few times that I use your stereo system?" She turned to Harm and stated, "I believe that he would have you accept as true that I use it constantly. I'll have you know for a fact that I get to use it very infrequently due to the fact that he is listening to his Handel or Bach most often first thing when he gets home, especially since he spent what amounts to a cheap domestic compact car on the thing." Then turned back to Animal and gave him a kiss on the lips. "So there…" she finished as she sipped at the eggnog in the glass in her hand.

"Damn…busted." Harm snickered at Animal. Animal turned his gaze back at him with a nod of agreement that _that was definitely the case_. Meg on the other hand had a self-satisfied smirk as she had gotten the upper-hand on Animal and rested her head against her husband's forehead. Animal just sighed and wrapped his right arm around his wife's waist.

Harm looked over to see Mac conversing with LGEN Cresswell and nodded to his wife – the party was starting to wane as the clock neared ten-thirty as Bud and Harriet collected their brood and came over to thank Meg and Animal for the party and apologize for leaving early as their younger kids needed to get some rest for their own Christmas celebration at home, the next morning.

As the Roberts family left, Sturgis came up to Harm, "You know, it's definitely awkward to meet up like this at a flag officer's home…"

"As opposed to what, Sturgis?" Harm said, his demeanor neutral, not giving a hint of what his internal emotions were speaking to the man who, he believed, betrayed him.

"It's probably not the right place to talk about what happened back when we were in JAG…" Sturgis said after a long moment of silence. It hadn't been a good situation that had happened during the last year of their being at JAG HQ. During the few months after Chegwidden had retired and that Sturgis Turner was placed as JAG pro tem, Turner had developed a power trip and had alienated those he'd worked with. And because he wasn't supported in that regards, he'd cultivated a healthy resentment for those who had called him out on it. And that resentment had culminated in him trying to railroad Harm into a _murder of a foreign official_ charge. When Harm was subsequently cleared of all charges, Harm fostered a healthy resentment of his former friend and it was highly doubtful that he would ever trust Turner again.

"No…it's not…" Harm said, his eyes impartial and his tone dispassionate.

Turner didn't visibly recoil, but his own demeanor changed slightly to a more reserved one. "What would you suggest in terms of putting this matter of ours to rest?"

Harm looked at him for a long moment, his gaze boring into Turner. "Time…" he said simply.

Turner nodded briefly as his father came up to him. Gathering his coat and cover and handing his father's overcoat and cover to him, he thanked Meg and Animal for the hospitality of their home. Then nodding silently to Harm, the Turners left.

There were a flurry of goodbyes as first LCDR Jason Turner and LCDR Jennifer Coates thanked the Nakamuras for their generosity and kindness in hosting their guests for the Christmas Eve Party. Then Captain Kimber Benton and Commander Phil Burrows followed saying their good-byes. Other guests who had joined them also made their good-byes as they left. Soon after that it was only Harm, Mac, Animal, Meg, Boone, Pointer and Chegwidden who remained to carry on a conversation which moved itself into the study as Animal said good-bye as the CNO made her way to the door grabbing her overcoat. Women's dress for this occasion was an evening dress and the CNO made no exception, which made Animal glad that he had earlier pulled out the snow-blower and cleaned off the driveway. It made it easier for the guests to walk to their vehicles rather than having to walk through three feet of snow.

"I forgot that Monday was a holiday, Tosh." Admiral Pruette mentioned on her way out the door as she pulled Animal to the side privately as the rest of the remaining guests settled into the study. "I meant to say Tuesday but I was too busy giving Bennett the third degree. I'll see you on Tuesday in my office at 0930hrs."

"Of course, Joanne." Animal replied. "I'll definitely be there."

"Now, I have to get going. George worries about me if I'm not home by midnight." Admiral Pruette smiled gently. Admiral Pruette's husband was a former USAF General who had originated from Strategic Air Command and retired just after the switch from SAC to Air Force Global Strike Command – (AFGSC); he had hung up his USAF Command Pilot wings in 2010. A former B-52 command pilot, he was now working as a charter jet pilot flying executives back and forth from DC to places west. He was pilot in command of a Gulfstream GVII which flew across the Continental United States and sometimes to Alaska. Animal often wondered if he was going to be doing the same thing when he retired from the Navy. Or would he miss the speed and maneuverability of jet fighters too much to tolerate flying a cargo hauler across the sky.

"You have a good night and safe travels, Joanne." Animal grinned as she waved, gingerly stepping down the steps. The dignified Chief of Naval Operations made her way steadily across the snowy ground towards her vehicle. On Tuesday it would be back to referring to her as Admiral and she would do likewise. When she was in her car and her car's ignition turned over, Animal waved a final time and turned to go back into the house.

Grabbing a quick refill of the eggnog from the bowl, Animal headed over to the study where Harm, Mac, Meg, Boone, Pointer and Chegwidden were engaged in a lively conversation.

Pointer was telling Meg how amused he was with the fact that Animal had been too busy ensuring that the rest of his men that he'd executed the rescue mission with were safe that he wasn't aware that he'd started bleeding from the shoulder wound again. Pointer had ordered him to the quack. Meg gave Animal an arch look as if to ask how stupid of a decision that was that he'd hadn't seen the quack immediately upon landing. Animal shrugged his shoulders as the rest of the guests, remaining in the study, laughed.

"I wasn't unconscious…" he commented, shrugging helplessly. "I had to make sure that my men were doing alright."

"They were doing just fine, Animal…" Pointer rejoindered. "You looked like you were going to pass out. A hell of a way to become a hero."

"Yeah…" Animal grumbled, "Then they took my plane away from me."

"Do you know where it is any more?" Chegwidden asked.

"I don't know…" Animal sat in contemplation for a long moment before he continued, "Probably withering away in some museum somewhere in Kansas or Oklahoma…where nobody probably gives a damned other than its some hero's F-14 Tomcat and hey, it's a Black Aces Tomcat! Wow…look at that." He finished off somewhat bitterly. Sometimes the bitterness did come back from having his aviation career so summarily terminated.

Pointer nodded. "I had to fight my way back into a carrier battle-group command." He commented as he looked over at Animal and at Meg. "They wanted to know that I wouldn't be in Harm's way. When you have seventeen destroyers, two guided missile cruisers, a helicopter carrier with a phalanx of Marines, as well as four submarines guarding the perimeter of the battle-group, I don't think that anyone is going to mess with the battle-group let alone go after the head honcho in the carrier."

"Well, they certainly found ways to keep me ashore, Scud." Animal grumbled.

Scud snickered, "They probably thought you were suicidal after reading that citation." Animal burst out laughing. "What idiot decides to stay at a forward position with no backup and fires at the enemy while the rest of his men get sent back to the helicopter?"

"Well…" Animal said rather indignantly even though the smile on his face belied the indignant tone. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." That drew an even bigger laugh from the guests. Animal paused for a moment and then inquired, "So, why don't you tell us how you received your nickname?"

"Well…I was flying pattern in my RAG days in clouds so thick that the only way you'd find your ass was to check for it on radar. We were flying instrument that day because of the clouds. And instructor told us that we needed to let down below the cloud cover to find our field. Well, instructor radios into METREP to find out just how low the ceiling was and it turns out the damned thing was down to almost 500 feet. Evidently the weather had come in while we were up there making contrails and by the time we were done, the field was socked in. Well, each one of my buddies lets down and lands pretty much uneventfully. I'm up there still socked in and scared shitless. Every time the field radios me to find out where the hell I am and whether or not I could find the field on visual, I'm telling them no-joy. Turns out I'm not reading my altimeter and all this time, I think I'm letting down, I'm doing circuits. I'm still at Angels six doing racetracks in the scud. So this time, I'm looking at the altimeter and I begin my let-down watching my needles unwind as I'm descending." Pointer looked over at his audience, "Well, then, my GIBs tells me that _Hey, you getting a gear indicator light?_ So I look at the lever and it's still in the up position. Now by this time I'm popping out of the scud and I see the runway 500 feet below me to my twelve o'clock, and I have to slap the lever down to make sure my main-mounts are down and locked before my belly kisses the asphalt. I think my guardian angel was flying with me that day because my lights came on a second before I flared out and made contact with the runway. If I'd been any slower on the gear down lever, my callsign would have been Skid, not Scud and that would have been even more of an ignominious name, considering the biological alternative connotation. Anyways, to make a long story short, the instructor monikered me with Scud so that I wouldn't forget to check my altimeter before making a descent in the clouds. Haven't lived that down since." Scud indicated, then looked over at Boone. "So, Tong…any stories?"

Tom Boone looked over at him wryly, "Nope…" he said simply to a chorus of disappointment.

"Surely you have something…" Scud commented.

"No, sir…It's going to take a lot more alcohol to pry it out of me…" Boone grinned.

"I can raid the liquor cabinet." Animal volunteered to Harm's amusement.

"I plead the Fifth." Was Tong's reply.

"How'd you get your callsign?" Meg asked, women's intuition telling her that possibly might be a way to get Boone to open up.

"OK…" Tong relented. "Well…you know the old saw that about hammer and tongs." He paused. "Well, Harm's dad was also nicknamed Hammer; we flew together in Nam. How we got the name was a different story. We were on our first cruise…" he snickered at the memory, "green as grass pollywogs. Well…we ended up in Subic before we headed over the equator. Well, it so happens that a brawl broke out in the Sapango and to get to the door of the bar before we were arrested by the MPs, we had to fight at least thirty guys. So Hammer's got two in a headlock and rams them headfirst into the wall. I duck under a thrown punch and haymaker this other guy, who ended up in the crocodile pond – man, he hopped out of there like a greased monkey. Meanwhile our other squadron mates are standing around watching this go down. So we're fightin' like hell at these guys who were throwing fists ands kicks at us. Well, when we got back to the ship all bruised, Hammer's got a nice shiner going and I'm bleeding from the lip where some guy punched me. One of my squadron mates goes, "Hey, you guys were goin' hammer n' tongs…in that bar." And those nicknames stuck. Harm Senior was Hammer; I was Tong. Tong stuck until I got promoted to O6 and ended up the commander of the air wing where everyone ends up calling you CAG." Then he grinned evilly looking over at Animal, but addressing Meg. "So, Meg, have you ever asked your husband how HE got his callsign?"

Animal groaned audibly as Meg glared at him. "Oh, shit…" he muttered as Harm, Mac, AJ, Scud and Tong laughed. "Well, since we're telling fish stories!" Animal grumbled accompanied by a chorus of boos from the audience. "Do I really have to tell this?"

"Yes…" Meg said, her tone acid, to another resounding chorus of laughter.

"Well…it's not as interesting as your guys' stories." Animal tried to deflect it by referring back to Scud and Tong's stories. Harm had a look on his face as if to say _This is going to be interesting._ Meg was looking at him as if she was saying. "Get on with it…dig yourself deeper…"

"You know how nicknames can be derogatory or opposite of the meaning that they are?" Animal said.

"Yeah…suuuuure." Tong grinned.

"Well, we were in Silver Sands, in Jeddah, it's now a private beach, but back then it was public access…" Animal started feeling a little uneasy from the burning gaze that he was getting from Meg. "Five of my squadron mates from the Black Aces including Tong who was the XO then went out to the beach to do some sightseeing." Animal paused there for a long moment so that Tong would start to get antsy. As a nugget JG, my job there was to shut up and stay quiet and maybe work on my tan" which was hilarious to the rest of the group as Animal, as an Asian, was much darker in skin tone than the rest of them. "So…we get out there, swimming togs on, trying to puff out our chests to look impressive to the women who were pretty much ignoring us." That brought another glare from Meg. "We'd been drinking earlier and the other four were pretty much piss-drunk and were whistling at the women. Hell, I damned fell asleep on the beach recliner and was pretty much three-sheets to the wind, passed out unconscious and those guys including this asshole here…" he grumbled at Tong. "…told me that I'd made it with about three women who supposedly accosted me…all while I was fucking asleep. I think it's a pile of bullshit. So that tall tale got around the squadron and I got monikered with Animal." Harm was laughing his head off. "If you'd monikered me with Playboy, I'da decked your ass, Tong!" Tong was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his chair; as was AJ and Scud.

"So how'd you know that you hadn't had…you know what…" Harm grinned, trying to hold his laughter in while Mac elbowed him in the arm.

"It was dry!" was Animal's snapped retort. "Goddamnit! I'm not that stupid."

"Your turn?" Scud turned to AJ.

"Oh…nothing so interesting as your three's stories. In the teams we don't have call signs except for radioing back and forth from Ops." AJ said.

Scud looked over, "Oh geez, well look at the time." The clock on the mantle of the fireplace read 2245 hrs. "I think we'd better let the Nakamuras get some sleep.

Cheerful well-wishes were passed along as they bade Christmas greetings and filed out of the study heading for the hallway and the coat-rack which held the remaining overcoats.

"It was good seeing you again, Animal. You take care of that wife of yours." Boone said to Animal.

"Thanks, Tong. Too damned long since we've last met up." Animal replied in return. "You caught a ride with Scud?" he asked looking out the side window at the falling snow. "Snow seems to be picking up…" he commented.

"No…brought my own car." Boone answered with a laugh. "I'll drive slowly and piss off the BMW owners on the Beltway."

Scud turned to Animal and clapped him on the back "Great to see you again, Animal, we have to catch up like this more often." and turning to Meg he said, "You made a delicious meal. Thank you so much, Meg."

"Well, James, it's great to see you and you're always welcome here." Meg replied, receiving a hug from the fatherly Admiral James Pointer.

AJ thanked them, receiving a hug from Meg and a warm handshake from Animal headed for the door and out, the three admirals leaving together.

"See you at work on Tuesday." Meg told Harm as she gave him a hug and a platonic kiss on the cheek. "I guess the Christmas season still doesn't stop cases from being heard or new cases to crop up. You and Mac have a good Christmas."

"Oh, we will…" Harm grinned at Meg then looked over affectionately at Mac who smiled indulgingly at her husband and quietly thanked Meg for the bountiful feast that they had partaken in.

"TMI, Harm." Animal snickered as Meg gave him an elbow in the side. "ow…"

When the guests had finally departed, Meg looked over at Animal with a saucy grin, leaning in close to Animal's ear with a breathy whisper "I knew that those boys were lying out their teeth about you having had it with those women at that beach…" then she headed back to the dining room to clear off the table and start putting things away, while Animal stood there for a long moment with his jaw hanging open. Finally he shook his head, looked up at the chandelier and then headed over to the dining room to help his wife with cleaning up the house of left-overs which went in the fridge (the plates of guests were emptied over the organics bin which would need to be emptied tomorrow morning. It took a while but at long last as the clock rounded 2330 hrs, they cleaned up the place and then put the dishes in the dishwasher for a final rinse.

"It's nice having friends over, isn't it?" Meg commented casually as she stood looking at the dining room table which was wiped off with a damp dishcloth. "…especially during Christmas holidays."

Animal nodded quietly as he looked over at her, "Yeah…it seemed to be a rather quiet party though it got a little uncomfortable when Sturgis was talking with Harm; kept thinking that the two of them would get into it." He remarked as he finished up dusting the tables where the serving dishes had been on. At least they wouldn't have to deal with clean up tomorrow; just a quick putting dishes away in the dining buffet & hutch where they kept their party cutlery, silverware and dishes. It didn't impact their finances much and it made Meg happy to have a set of holiday dishes. For guests they had to get at least sixteen placings so that put them over $1400.00 to buy it all including the two tier server. There were two sets of the placings which meant that to get the eight green tree pattern dish placings they bought two sets. And then to get eight placings of the red snowflake pattern dish placings, they bought another two sets of those. The Two tier server matched the red snowflake pattern, and they bought four green tree pattern oval platters for serving as well as two green tree serve bowls from the Macy's Annapolis Mall location.

When they were completely done, Meg leaned tiredly against Animal. "It's late…how about we go to sleep. I'm sure the kids will wake us up early tomorrow morning."

"Don't forget, we have to get the presents under the tree." Animal grinned at her.

"Oh yeah…" she softly sighed… "We almost forgot to put the presents out." Looking at the clock which read 2345hrs, "I guess…" she sighed yet again. "…our bedtime won't be until after midnight…" she mumbled as she buried her face against Animal's short hair.

"Let's get this done, princess…and then maybe we can get some sleep…" Animal advised.

His wife looked at him slyly, her eyes mere slits and purred softly, "You promise?" and her laugh uplifted Animal's spirits and coaxed them to finish off the arranging the presents as quickly as possible. When done, Meg slipped her arms around Animal's waist as he reciprocated and underneath the mistletoe, they kissed, lips against each other's, hungrily.

"So much for sleep…" Animal whispered, grinning at Meg.

She grinned back at him, her eyes shining with the reflection of the lights of the Christmas tree. "Sounds like a plan…"


End file.
